


Sleeping Blue

by Chizu5645, RedPen77



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Come for some Ameripan fluff/angst, Evil Flowers, Flowers, Hurt/Comfort, Like You Wouldn't Imagine, M/M, Modern Fantasy, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Really only Alfred and Kiku in this story, Slow Burn, The other characters are really just mentioned, really slow burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-04-08 01:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14094279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chizu5645/pseuds/Chizu5645, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedPen77/pseuds/RedPen77
Summary: Flowers are the most innocent things in the world. They just flutter in the breeze, minding their own business. They couldn't possibly hurt you, much less kill you, right?... Right?When a search to look for a rare flower goes awry, best friends Alfred and Kiku must escape an ever-changing, dreamlike world where a good majority of the flora want to kill them. They only have their wit, their imagination, and themselves to navigate the dreamscape, no matter how innocent it looks. It's an adventure neither Alfred and Kiku will ever forget, what with their unburied pasts, their revealed secrets, and their strengthening bond.If only they can survive...(Based on an RP!)





	1. Unfounded Curiosity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kiku is pulled into a small, innocuous adventure that will inadvertently turn into a huge one.

The day had disguised itself as a normal one. At least, in the sense that Kiku woke up in his own bed, drove to work as usual, and had nothing extraordinary happen to him in the first few hours of his waking. Everyone acted in their same, typical, outgoing ways; the workload was the same as ever; in fact, nothing at all indicated he was going to have a very different kind of day to the one he was used to.

Kiku supposed he should have seen the warning signs at lunch, when he was sitting by himself (he was usually alone in these types of things), peacefully observing the clock and counting the gentle  _ ticks  _ until he could finally go home, when a very familiar American face slid down next to him, smiling as brightly as ever, and practically bubbling over with enthusiasm about… something.

“Hey, Keeks!” Alfred greeted cheerfully, grinning. “I’ve got something to show you!”

If it wasn’t for their similar interests and Alfred’s gregarious attitude, they would never have been friends. At first, they had only met on the off-chance they had a similar meeting (they were in the same department - Energy - but never the same project). Then, on one particular day, Kiku had been eating alone at lunch when Alfred had slid up to his table claiming that “anyone who sat alone obviously needed a good friend”. And, despite the fact that Kiku had never eaten lunch before with another person, he let Alfred stay. The lunch period passed quickly with one-sided conversation, mainly on Alfred’s side. 

Then-- Well.  _ One _ day turned into a few, which turned into weeks, then months, and by now they were natural friends. 

Kiku looked up from his sandwich, a little intrigued, “Oh? What is it?”

Alfred rubbed his hands excitedly. “So, you know how I visited Arthur last weekend just so we could meet Mattie’s girlfriend, right? Well, first time for Arthur, third for me.” Alfred brushed the technicality away. “But yeah! Big surprise, Arthur put me in the guest room that had all his extra ‘magic’ things. Whoohoo. But apparently, he was doing some research on this...”

Kiku leaned forward as Alfred took out his phone, showing a picture of an opened book. It was mostly tiny text, but there was a fancy drawing of a blue flower curling along the right side of the page.

“I dunno, something about the book just... Interested me. It’s a whole field journal about these weird flowers. And he had a few of those flowers, the blue ones, by his bedside! Yeah, apparently the blue flowers can help you to fall asleep? Give you pretty vivid dreams and what not?” Alfred shrugged. “I didn’t really read up on the other flowers since Arthur would’ve murdered me if he found out I touched his magic stuff.”

Kiku nodded slowly, squinting at the picture. The low quality of the photo made it hard to make out complete sentences, but he could make out some words that mirrored Alfred’s explanation. “... Did you ask Arthur-san about it?” He asked, eyebrow raised.

Alfred scoffed. “Why would I? He probably would say something along the lines that ‘I won’t understand’. And he already knows that I’m not the biggest fan of his magic.” His eyes then alighted as he zoomed in on the flower. “But the flower looks cool, doesn’t it? Magic or not, I actually kind of want to find this.”

“Mm...” Kiku took another bite of his sandwich, thinking thoughtfully. It did look quite interesting, “Do you know where it is, then?”

“Yup! The place Arthur gets these flowers is actually really close! You know the forest by Dewdrop Park? It’s by this stream and it’s pretty cool!” He grinned as he put away his phone. “I’m thinking of going there tomorrow! You’re free tomorrow, right?”

Kiku nodded absently. Then, the words finally clicked. “Wait, you want me to go with you?”

Alfred nodded excitedly. “I wouldn’t be telling you about this if I didn’t want to show you, right? I think this type of thing is a two-person discovery, you know? And I’m sure as hell not going with Arthur.” He leaned back, shrugging. “I mean, you don’t  _ have _ to come with me. You’re probably busy with a lot of stuff, like work and such--”

“No, no,” he replied quickly. “I’d love to.” It wasn’t as if he had other things to do outside of work. And besides, Alfred was a friend. He always had to be supportive of a friend. … Even if Alfred was realistically his only friend. 

“Ooh, what if…” Alfred’s words snapped Kiku out of his thoughts. “What would happen if I just took a nap right then and there, in the flowers? … Hypothetically?” 

Kiku raised an eyebrow, wary of the idea. “... Why would you want to do that? I assume you would just… Fall asleep.”  _ Humor him _ , his gut told him, and Kiku thought some more. “Perhaps you would stay in an eternal sleep? The flowers would produce an endless amount of pollen and, well, magic, so you couldn’t wake up,” he mused, glancing at Alfred for his reaction. … Did he bring it too far? It was pure conjecture, assuming the flowers even  _ did _ anything. 

Nevertheless, Alfred seemed to approve of the theory. “That’s true… So it’d just be an everlasting dream, huh? Well, there’s only one way to find out!”

“I suppose that’s true…”

Although he hated to admit it, Kiku was actually fairly interested in this new idea. However, he knew what he would find - just an ordinary bunch of flowers, if that. Still, he wasn’t sure if Alfred knew that or not, as he seemed full of feverish excitement for the rest of the day and unable to keep in one place. … Though, that may have just been the excitable American’s usual mode. It was hard to tell sometimes. Either way, Kiku thought it would be best to go with him.

* * *

 

The next day rolled around after an uneventful night. The excitable buzz of the oncoming weekend was in the atmosphere, and Kiku couldn’t help but feel a little lightened. When he came across Alfred again in the hallways, the American sent a happy thumbs-up towards Kiku’s direction. Kiku, in turn, responded with a small wave. 

If nothing else, that was probably the thing that had enlivened him the most. He caught himself daydreaming once or twice of what would happen if the flowers really did have some type of magical effect, though he knew it was utter nonsense. It would be interesting to find the flowers, yes, but the “magic” part must be superstition. Just silly superstition. There was nothing to worry about…

It was a relief when the workday ended. By the end of it, however, Kiku was nervous. He didn’t exactly know what about - the magic flowers couldn’t be real and Alfred was his friend. Kiku simply dismissed it as the usual anxiety of meeting up with people. He met Alfred at the end of the workday outside the entrance, greeting him with a small nod and a wave. “Hello, Alfred-san.”

“Hey Keeks!” he replied, bounding up to him, eyes bright with the promise of an adventure. “You ready to go? The park isn’t far from here.”

“Of course.” he nodded, “...Please don’t call me Keeks. It’s Kiku.”

“Fine,  _ Kiku,  _ come on! We haven’t got all day!” Alfred grabbed him by the hand and all but dragged him away from the building. He’d been fantasizing about this all day, he was ready to  _ go. _

“Ahh-- Please, let me go,” he said, whipping his arm back quickly. Kiku never liked touching people (or, in this case, being touched). To him, it was unnecessary and, quite frankly, bad. He’d almost never encountered a type of contact without it ending in injury.

The walk to the park was uneventful. It was a cloudy, slightly chilly summer’s day, with excitable children all ready for the summer holidays to begin. Most five- to ten-year-olds were in the park now, squealing with laughter and playing whilst the adults chatted to one another in the background. Alfred walked straight past them, towards the wood at the back of the park. Kiku silently listened to Alfred’s banter about the park: The forest itself wasn’t that large, but most children were banned from going inside. Concerned parents worried that the children could get dirty from the abundant mud or, worse case scenario, get lost. 

“Here it is!” Alfred said once they were on the verge of entering, flourishing his hand towards it, “I wonder if we  _ could  _ find them. That would be so cool! Remember, they’re dark blue, with a sort of purple veins to them!”

Kiku followed Alfred inside. It seemed like a relatively friendly wood, not at all dark or mysterious like you would expect a fairytale setting to be like. He began to doubt the existence of these flowers, but so as not to put a damper on Alfred’s jolly mood, he set about looking for them. 

The stream was not a far walk away, and it wasn’t long before they reached it. The water was calm and soothing to the ear, with several small logs going across it so people could cross. It looked like some sort of an odd balancing act with the way Alfred demonstrated, and he nearly fell in. Luckily he managed to keep himself upright - but got a rather wet foot.

“I’ll search this side of the stream and you search that side,” he announced, as soon as he crossed. “You okay with that?”

Kiku nodded, and he looked around. There were lots of soft greens and muddy browns, but no blue shades caught his eye. Not even the stream could be described as blue, as it was more of a clear brown than anything. Alfred had described them as being  _ bright  _ blue, but he was prone to exaggeration quite a lot of the time. Kiku kept looking, but nothing jumped out at him. It was clear that Alfred wasn’t finding much of anything either.

“They’ve got to be around here somewhere…” Kiku heard Alfred mutter to himself. They’d gone off the small chalked track completely in search of these nonexistent flowers. It was the most pointless expedition Kiku had ever found himself on, and he found himself getting bored rather quickly. Still, he didn’t complain and kept looking. Kiku didn’t want to hurt Alfred’s feelings, especially since he seemed so enthusiastic about this.

Five minutes. Ten.  _ Half an hour.  _

“Alfred-san? I don’t think they’re here.” Kiku said, at last. They’d combed through nearly the whole wood, not just the stream area, and now he was now certain they didn’t exist.

“I don’t get it,” Alfred sighed in defeat. “The book said they were right here, right by the stream!”

“Maybe it meant a different park?” Unlikely, but possible. Or, maybe, the journal was lying or making up stories. Kiku turned to leave when Alfred tapped his shoulder. 

“Wait, Kiku! I see something!” 

Kiku turned to brush Alfred’s hand off and remind him  _ again _ not to touch him when he spotted it as well. At the bottom of a small hollow of land, a small grove of trees shielded a patch of the fated blue flowers. Kiku blinked, at first doubtful about whether it was real or not. Honestly, he was surprised that they hadn’t found it earlier. 

He gasped when Alfred suddenly ran down the slope to the flowers. 

“Alfred-san,  _ wait _ !” Kiku slowly made his way down the slope, trying to catch up to Alfred, but Alfred was already kneeling and staring at one of the flowers when Kiku made it to the flower patch. 

The aroma hit him first. It wasn’t the overpowering, shoving-itself-in-your-face kind of smell; no, it was unassuming, almost sneaky with its sweet scent. Kiku looked at the patch of flowers in wonder. Somehow, the scene felt soothing, with the combination of the broken sunlight, the quiet atmosphere, the cooling smell...

“Pretty, aren’t they?” Kiku almost jumped at Alfred’s sudden voice. He quickly calmed down and watch Alfred reach down to pick one of the flowers and hold it up to the light. The sudden movement made the flower spill a cloud of blue pollen on the ground, making Alfred cough. “Geez, these things are loaded…” 

Something about this situation made Kiku uneasy. Maybe it was because the flowers’ aroma was starting to make him slightly dizzy, maybe it was the mere existence of the flowers when it was so impossible just yesterday, but he just couldn't place a finger on it...

“Okay, is it just me, or was all that searching real tiring?…” Alfred muttered, yawning widely. Kiku noticed too just how fatigued he was all of a sudden. The flowers waved innocently in the slight calm breeze and blew the pollen about a bit. Alfred sneezed.

“I think we’d better go. We found the flowers,” Kiku said, quickly. This whole situation was setting alarm bells off in his head. For what reason, he didn’t know why.

“Yeah, sure. Let me just… hahhh….” Alfred leaned against a nearby tree, rubbing his eyes under his glasses, “I really should have got more sleep last night.”   


“Alfred-san, please.” He turned to look back at the trail they had strayed from. Kiku’s eyes were feeling heavier and heavier by the moment, and he was almost afraid of falling asleep right here in the flower patch. However, he still refused to believe that the  _ flower patch, _ of all things, could be causing that. 

“What with the rush?” he asked, with a small, but clearly tired laugh, “It’s relatively clean here too. I bet I could take a nap here…” Alfred slowly slid further down the trunk. He looked barely awake all of a sudden, and it took all of Kiku’s willpower not to join him.

“I don’t think… resting here… is a good idea…” he replied, through a stifled yawn, “Let- Let’s go back…”

“You go on. I’ll, ahh… Catch up…” Alfred sat up a bit as if trying to make himself more comfortable. However, it was obvious that, after a soft sigh, he had nodded off into a deep sleep. 

Kiku made the mistake of kneeling next to Alfred to try and shake him awake. “Alfred... Wake up--” He coughed, waving the air around him. Was it him, or had the flowers pumped a ton of pollen into the air? Suddenly, he felt utterly exhausted. Maybe a nap would be nice…

Without being aware of what he was doing, Kiku laid back on the same tree trunk Alfred was resting on. He couldn’t object when his too-heavy eyelids slid closed.  _ What’s the worst that could happen...? _


	2. Pastel Plains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alfred wakes up to a vast sea of pink.

… … Why did it smell sweet? Like, _really_ sweet?

Alfred scrunched up his face at the overpowering scent. It smelled like someone baked three cotton-candy cakes simultaneously. Did cotton-candy cakes exist? Huh. Maybe he would have to find that out.

… Wait. Where was he?

He blearily blinked, a little startled at all the pink surrounding him. It took him a while to move (that certainly freaked him out), but eventually, he was able to sit up. His head spun a bit -- both from the strong smell of cotton candy and from just waking up -- and he had to pause for a moment to adjust to his surroundings.

Not only did it smell like cotton candy, it _looked_ like cotton candy. Almost everything, from the long grass to the river to the dirt underneath, was some shade of pink. The only thing he could see immediately that wasn’t pink was the lavender-tinted sky above him. It was almost surreal seeing all the pink colors blend into each other dizzily.

After further inspection of the terrain, Alfred gasped. A few feet away from him, Kiku was lying prone on the ground, seemingly still. He quickly rushed over, turning Kiku towards him, and shook him by the shoulders. “Keeks!” He shouted, desperately, “C’mon, man, wake up!”

If it wasn’t for the steady rising and falling of his chest, Alfred would have assumed he really _was_ dead. Kiku was so still in sleep: he made no noise whatsoever. Not his breathing, not his movements. But thankfully, after a few moments of frantic shaking, Kiku bolted upright and nearly headbutted Alfred. Alfred, however, was too relieved to care. _Phew._

“Ohhh, thank God,” Alfred breathed, patting Kiku on the shoulder relievedly. “I thought you had died for a sec. But-- Hey, you’re still alive so that’s good. Really good.”

Kiku didn’t say anything for a moment. His breathing was ragged as he looked around confusedly, trying to gain his bearings. After a moment, he looked at Alfred curiously. “... Where are we?”

“We’re--” Alfred paused, looking around. “I don’t know. It’s kind of weird.” He suddenly gasped. “Oh! The flowers! We’re-- We’re in our dreams! We made it, Keeks!” Alfred pulled up a handful of pink grass, throwing it up in the air, letting it flutter down around them with a laugh. “Oh my God, it all feels so _real_ …”

“Yes… it does…” Kiku patted the dust off himself, which had somehow also turned a light shade of pink. The pollen swirled down in clouds as he stood up. Alfred copied his movements, stretching his arms up towards the sky, popping his wrist with a groan of satisfaction. It felt like he’d been lying there _forever._

 _“_ Whoa, hey, take a look at this!”

Alfred had just noticed upon stretching his neck that instead of a sun, there was another not-pink item: a pale white moon in the sky. It looked a little strange - not the round shape he was so used to seeing at night or, on occasion, in the day, but rather like a child had dipped their finger in paint and stuck it onto the sky; it wasn’t even remotely spherical.

“Where’s all this light coming from then?” Kiku wondered, looking around. But of course, any ordinary logic of day-to-day life was thrown out the window. This was a dream, but it felt so real!

“So hey!” Alfred grinned, turning his gaze to his raven-haired friend again, “We made it, huh! I… didn’t know we _shared_ dreams. … Unless this is a _dream_ version of you?” He gasped. “How do I know you’re the real Kiku?!”

“Alfred-san, please,” Kiku replied weakly, “We don’t have time for this. We need to figure out how to leave now.”

“Leave? But we only just got here! We should explore a bit!” Alfred said excitedly. Leave? How could Kiku possibly want to leave when they had the entire world open to their command?? … Wait a moment. “I… thought you didn’t want to fall asleep in the first place?”  

Kiku shook his head, “I didn’t. I couldn’t help it though. The aroma…”

“You’re right, the smell! It made us get all sleepy! Yeah, I think Arthur’s book said the same thing, that the flowers made you fall asleep faster.” He clapped his hands in realization. “There must have been so much of them that we practically dropped dead!”

Kiku grimaced. “Please don’t say it like that.”

“It’s kinda true though.” he insisted further, “Yeah, it all fits! The book said these particular flowers gave you vivid dreams, to make you fall asleep faster. Well that’s what happened, didn’t it? And now we’re here!” Alfred beamed, his excitement almost pouring out of him. “This is so _cool!_ ”

“No, this isn’t _cool._ The flowers are keeping us asleep. How are we supposed to wake up?” Kiku asked, gesturing around at the pink plain, “We can’t stay in here forever.”

“I never _said_ we would stay in here forever. You worry too much.” Alfred said, “Come on! This is our dream! That means we can… we can…” His eyes brightened, and he whooped with joy when he thought about it. “We can do _whatever the hell we want!”_

Kiku sighed. There was no point trying to get through to him.

“Do you think we can fly here?” He continued on, paying little attention to Kiku and getting carried away in his thoughts. “I mean, it would make sense, right? It’s a dream! C’mon… happy thoughts…” Alfred started jumping up and down, flapping his arms like a bird, “Happy thoughts…” he muttered to himself again, doing one more jump--

Before stumbling straight into the stream with a yelp.

Kiku snorted at his friend’s idiocy. “I don’t think... That works exactly.” He made no move to help him out of the stream, as the sodden American gasped.

“Gahh! That’s cold!” he spluttered out, scrambling as fast as he could out from the pink stream. “Okay, so maybe we can’t fly...” Alfred sat by the stream, adjusting his glasses where they lay lopsided on his face and brushed at his clothes. He then paused, feeling his clothes again. “... Huh. That’s weird.”

“What’s weird?” Kiku asked, coming a little closer.

“I’m not wet. At all. Here.” Alfred dipped his hand into the stream again and splashed Kiku slightly. Kiku flinched, about to brush the water off of him-- but it slid off him easily. Almost as if a rush of cold wind had hit him.

“That’s… very odd… though I suppose in a dream, you don’t really feel anything, do you? You only think you feel it.” He knelt down to touch the water droplets on the ground; they weren’t absorbed into the soil and instead collecting together into one large teardrop on the ground. Strange.

“But I can feel the grass, and myself, and stuff.” said Alfred, puzzled, “Can’t you?”

“Yes, yes, of course.” Kiku replied, quickly, “I don’t know, it’s all very strange. These flowers… perhaps we shouldn’t stay with them too long.”

“Arthur sleeps by them every night, and nothing ever happened to him,” Alfred pointed out.

“Those were only a few flowers though.” Kiku stood back up. “If you want, I can help you collect flowers once we wake up. But for now, I’d like to go back.”

He sighed. “Alright, fine, we’ll wake up now if you want.” Kiku really was no fun today. … Although, the flower picking was a good idea. Napping here was never his real intention, but now that he experienced what exactly happened when he fell asleep around the flowers, he was eager to do it again-- Wait. “...Um. How _do_ we get back?”

Kiku shrugged, uncertain. “You read the book. Wouldn’t it be there?” After a silent pause, Kiku tilted his head in concern. “You… Read it all, right?”

“Ehehe…. Read is a strong word… more like… skimmed…” he admitted, sheepishly, “Ah, but, no worries! I have the picture on my phone. We’ll have to squint a bit, but it should be…” Huh. That was odd. He could have _sworn_ he put his phone in his jacket pocket. Alfred felt around all his pockets, but no phone was to be found, “...My phone’s gone.”

Kiku checked his own pockets, “Mine too. And I know I had it too.”

“Well, nevermind, we don’t need help,” he said quickly, waving his hand dismissively. “What, uh… What usually wakes people up from dreams?” He thought long and hard for a moment, tapping his chin in thought. “... Can I pinch you?”

Kiku blinked. “... What?”

“Well, I mean-- Pinching usually wakes people up, right? We can try that! … Or, well, I can pinch myself, I don’t have to pinch you if you want.” He didn’t wait for Kiku’s reply, squeezing his own skin tightly. He winced at the pain and rubbed at the sore spot. … But nothing happened. Looking up at Kiku, he saw his raven-haired friend in the same predicament, frowning at his arm. “What the heck?”

“I don’t think any of the ways will work,” he sighed, pulling his sleeve back up. “The aroma is keeping us asleep. As long as we’re within the range of the flowers’ pollen, we’ll… ” He hesitated. “We’ll continue to sleep.”

Alfred didn’t speak for a moment. His mind was churning, still in denial. After a minute, he laughed nervously. “No-- No. We can’t stay here _forever_. I mean… There’s gotta be something to wake us up. Right?” Still, his denial was being crushed by the overwhelming realization that maybe, just maybe, there really wasn’t a way to get out. And he dragged Kiku into this even though he _didn’t_ want _this, stupid, stupid--_ “Ohhh God. Are we-- Are we _stuck_?” 

“Calm down, Alfred-san,” Kiku said warningly. For someone who wanted to get out first, he sounded surprisingly calm. “Someone ought to find our bodies. It’s not like we’re very well hidden.”

“But--” Alfred sucked in a breath, trying to calm down. “How long is that gonna take? I guess we could wait. … But it was difficult for _us_ to find the flowers in the first place, what if--” He knew he was diving deep into speculation, that he was just trying to rationalize, but he couldn’t stop thinking-- “What if there’s some type of -- oh, I don’t know -- _enchantment_ on it to make it… Unfindable? Maybe? I mean, not even Arthur knows we’re here, so no one’s even looking for us in the first place--”

“Alfred." 

Alfred looked up in surprise at the honorific-less greeting. Kiku looked back, also looking somewhat panicked but, at the same time, a lot more calm than Alfred felt. He then inhaled through his nose deeply to calm himself down. “Okay… okay…” He bit his lip. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out.”

Kiku nodded solemnly. “Of course.” He rubbed his neck uncomfortably. “It wouldn’t do if either of us panicked.”

“Yeah, yeah. Right.” He took in another deep breath. “There has to be some way for us to leave. There just _has_ to be. … No point panicking about it.” … “What can we do?” Alfred asked lowly.

“I don’t know…” Was the only reply Kiku gave, with a grave face.

“Let’s… let’s look around a bit. Get a feel for the place we’re gonna be stuck in for a long, long time.” Alfred laughed humorlessly, though he really just wanted to find some kind of exit, “Maybe there’s something else out here. Something that could help! That-- That could be out here!”

And with that, Alfred picked a random direction and strode off, now filled with renewed hope. Kiku followed quietly, looking out at the plain. It was a start, at least. There had to be something out there to help them, right?

* * *

 

Unlike the wood in which they fell asleep in, the plain was barren of any sort of foliage. It was more pink meadow than anything, with pink grass and nothing else. Alfred squinted around, adjusting his glasses as if that would make something appear, “See anything?”

“No,” Kiku muttered. “Just a lot of… pink.”

The constant pink certainly made it hard to distinguish things in the far distance. Alfred squinted harder and… wait, was that…? He cleaned his glasses just to make sure. “Hey, Keeks! I found something, look!”

“I told you not to- ah!” Kiku found himself suddenly yanked forward by the hand to stand next to Alfred, peering into the distance in excitement, “ _Or_ touch me…”

His mutters fell upon deaf ears as Alfred bounced on the balls of his feet. They were saved! That must be some kind of gateway to the real world - otherwise, why would it be there? It was in shadow; rather hard to see still, but Alfred was one hundred percent sure it was a gateway, “Do you see it? That _must_ be a gateway! Come on!--”

Without waiting for a response, he took off in a run.

“Alfred-san!” Kiku called after him, if a little crossly, “We don’t know what’s out here - we have to stick together - slow down!”

Kiku was only able to catch up when Alfred suddenly slowed down, squinting at the horizon once more. “Sorry, Kiku,” Alfred said, looking at Kiku with a sheepish grin. “Ehehe... Got a bit carried away." 

Kiku glowered back up at him a little. “I gathered that.”

“Well, we’re a little closer anyway. Let’s just walk.” Alfred said, quickly, beginning his brisk pace again, “It’s lucky we found it huh? We could have gone miles in another direction altogether…”

“Yes…” he muttered, if a little resentfully still, peering off into the distance again. Alfred followed his gaze. Now that it was closer, he could almost make it out - the square-like shapes on the horizon seemed almost familiar.

“Looks like a town, doesn’t it?” Alfred mused, tapping his chin again, “Or a village. I hope there’s food - I’m starving. Oh!- What if there are people! They might know how to get us out!”

Kiku shook his head doubtfully. “Unless there are other people that are sharing our dream, I don’t think we’ll meet people over there.” Although… “If it is a dream, though, we could meet people that we conjured in our minds.”

Alfred turned towards Kiku, eyes wide in amazement. “Wait, seriously?”

“It’s only a possibility,” Kiku sighed. They couldn’t get their hopes up, not quite yet. “Let’s walk there first.”

After that, all conversation seemed to dry up. Alfred rubbed his neck, feeling a little awkward now. After all, he’d dragged Kiku on an adventure he didn’t want to be a part of and then took off without him. Alfred tried to think of something to say, but couldn’t find the right words.

They walked onwards. In time, he noticed that the day never seemed to progress. The pale moon in the sky didn’t shed any light, but somehow the place was bright enough to see anyways. The light just seemed to come from all around, not a fixed point in particular. It wasn’t harsh, but, like the surroundings around them, seemed to be as soft and pastel as everything else. It was both relaxing, and slightly annoying, not being able to see the terrain in front of him properly.

Subsequently, Alfred felt boredom creeping up his back once more, and tried for conversation, “So…. How’s life?”

Kiku refrained from rolling his eyes, “Now?”

Alfred blushed red. “Ahh, well--” _No, not now, “_ I mean, before we saw each other. Y’know, how’s work and all.”

“Oh. It’s been… fine.” he said, after a moment of pause, “What about you?”

“Pretty cool. Boss is thinking of giving someone a promotion and I’m hoping it’s gonna go to me!” He jabbed his thumb into his chest, chuckling. “Stuff like that, you know?”

Kiku nodded. “We have that new project in the energy department, don’t we? The one that our boss is pretty excited about.”

“Oh yeah!” Alfred’s eyes lit up, “He’s actually told me a bit about it! I have a really cool idea - a bit expensive, but if it pays off…” He trailed off.

“Do you mind telling me what it is?” he asked, curiously.

“Ah, ah, ah! That would spoil the surprise!” Alfred beamed back. Okay, talking about work was beginning to get boring... _What else was there?_ He saw Kiku glance up at the sky - more specifically at the moon.

“I know, it’s weird right?” he said, “I guess it’s fitting - dreams taking place at night and all.”

Like the night, he noticed that it was also getting pretty cold too. A breeze began to pick up across them. Strangely enough, however, nothing moved with the wind. The grass didn’t flatten on the ground in ripples, and when Alfred glanced back at the trees none were swaying slightly. How odd.

“I suppose it would be turning night in the real world,” Kiku theorized, suppressing a shiver.  He held his elbows in order to keep the warmth in.

“Hey-- you cold?” Alfred asked concernedly. Well, of course he was! While Alfred had his signature bomber jacket on (did he take it off in the real world? He suddenly couldn’t remember), Kiku only had a long-sleeved shirt, “You want my jacket?”

“No, it’s fine,” Kiku said immediately.

“Come on, man! Until we find a store that takes our kind of cash, you can have the jacket.” He shrugged his jacket off, “See! I’m not even bothered!” Oddly enough, he wasn’t. The cold wind seemed to hardly affect him.

“Oh… very well…” He agreed, “Thank you, Alfred.” Kiku didn’t need much persuading. He put the jacket on, and Alfred had to fight not to laugh. It was _way_ too big for him, the sleeves trailing off his hands. Still, he’d be warm, and Alfred felt like he’d accomplished something _huge._ Perhaps he had - Kiku simply refused to take anything from anyone other than to be polite.

His heart swelled, and he tried hard not to make it too obvious. Fortunately, he had the perfect excuse not to: “Oh, Keeks! Look over there! It _is_ a town after all, I was right!”

He didn’t chide him upon the nickname this time, as Alfred saw him follow his gaze. “Yes, you are. … It looks a little abandoned though. And ruined.” He frowned. “A little strange for an abandoned town to be here, though.”

His smile dropped. “Yeah… I guess. But that’s just the shadow, right? There could still be people.”

They kept walking briskly forwards. Soon the town came into view - and Kiku was right. Not a soul seemed to inhabit this place. It almost seemed like no one _could,_ as even the ground had lost its pink color to the gray ash. Alfred kicked a few of the not-pink pebbles on the ground, watching them bounce on the ground and--

“Oh! Look at this!”

Kiku, who had been inspecting the fading scaffold of an old building, looked over to Alfred in intrigue. “What is it?”

“Look!” Alfred gathered a few pebbles from the ground. He then flicked one of the pebbles at a piece of ruin. However, instead of bouncing off, the pebble completely phased through the ruin and landed on the other side. When Alfred dropped the pebble from above, it disappeared into the rock.

Kiku listened for the sound of the pebble hitting the ground, but it never came. “I wonder how far down it goes… Does it even have a bottom?” he asked, cautiously walking to the edge of the building. It looked pretty solid to him, but when Alfred touched it with the palm of his hand it phased through completely.

“That’s actually kinda weird,” Alfred laughed, passing his hand through the mirage over and over again. “Oh, this is so cool…” He knelt down close to the ground as he reached his arm deeper into the ruin. His eyes widened. “I don’t think there even _is_ a bottom, I’m not feeling anything.”  

Kiku knelt down beside Alfred with a wary look on his face. “Don’t lean in too close,” he warned, slowly backing away from the ruin. “You don’t want to fall in.”

“Oh come on, I’m being _super_ careful!” He grinned, waving his hand around underneath. “See? Yeah, sure, there’s no floor, but as long as I don’t lean in I can’t faaaAAAHH!--”

It was as if the ground under had just disappeared. He yelled, twisting in mid-air, and managed to grab the ledge with _just_ the tips of his fingers. He made the mistake of looking down - and yelled again. It was complete blackness below. A never-ending stretch of blackness underneath him. If Alfred dropped into that, he’d be doomed to fall for eternity.

“Kiku!” He shouted, desperately clinging to the edge. He tried kicking his legs up for height, but he couldn’t muster the strength. “Help me up!”

Kiku didn’t waste any time. Grabbing Alfred by the arms, he pulled him up as Alfred grabbed for Kiku’s wrists. Their grip slipped on more than one occasion, causing panic for the both of them until Kiku grabbed one of Alfred’s arms and heaved him up. Despite the pain of almost having his arm ripped out of its socket, Alfred scrambled up onto the ground with a gasp.

They both quickly scrambled away from the ruin, breathing hard. Alfred noticed how the ground where he previously sat on was more “faded” than the rest of the pink-gray ground, and he watched as the area slowly sputtered and switched from regaining and draining its color. Almost like a glitch in reality. He raked a hand through his hair. “Oh, my God.”

Kiku placed a hand over his heart, his cheeks red from overexertion. “Are you okay?”

Alfred could only nod in reply.

They both just sat there, panting for breath and resting from that moment of terror. Alfred checked that his glasses were still on his nose -- they were -- and laid back down on the ground. He didn’t want to imagine what would’ve happened if Kiku wasn’t there to rescue him. “... Thank you.”

“Hmm?” Kiku glanced over at Alfred with a raised eyebrow, then nodded. “Of course.” He looked around them. “We should continue.”

Alfred stood to his feet, dusting himself off. “As long as we stay away from the buildings, am I right?” He joked, massaging his arms. Strangely, he felt a little cold ever since he dropped into the cold darkness.

“Do you need your jacket back?”

“What?” Alfred waved the suggestion away. “Nah, I’m good--”

Kiku smiled through a shiver. “I’m warm enough now.” He took off the coat, handing it towards Alfred. “If you want, we could pass the coat between us every five minutes.”

“But I’m fine, really--” He stopped when he heard a distinct rumbling, crumbling sound behind him. Alfred swiveled a full one eighty degrees around, trying to locate the sound.

The area of land he’d fallen from had turned into a large hole in the ground again. But rather than remaining just that, a hole in the ground, the edges were greying, breaking off in small pieces and falling down into the nonexistence. The hole was getting bigger _, closer._ And if they fell in … _Oh no..._

“Uhh … Keeks? You might wanna take a look at this …”

“Hm?” Kiku turned and spotted the crater that was now a small hole. His eyes widened in fear as the building next to it crumbled and broke apart into the nonexistence. Huge cracks zig-zagged from the edge, working its way to where they stood, causing the ground to shake. He could see out the corner of his eye the pebbles trembling. 

“Run. _Run!”_ Alfred cried, automatically taking Kiku’s hand and making a dash for it. The crater seemed to open up where they had first entered. They would have to run straight through the town to the other side. He all but _dragged_ Kiku along, but this was no time to be slowing down! Alfred chanced a glance over his shoulder. Almost the entire side of the town behind them had fallen into the nonexistence, with one of the buildings being swallowed whole. He stumbled over a piece of turf lying on the ground, but Kiku pulled him up and they continued running.

They only slowed down when they were a good ways away from the collapsing town, away from the crumbling edge of reality. Kiku swiftly took his hand back, but for once he didn’t reprimand Alfred for grabbing it. They were both breathing hard, both utterly exhausted.

“That’s… freaky,” Alfred panted, wiping his brow of sweat. Whew. He really needed to exercise more. “What made it disappear like that?”

Kiku all but collapsed on his knees. He could only shrug in response as he caught his breath. “Perhaps… Perhaps our presence made that dream collapse?”

Alfred joined Kiku on the ground, but instead of sitting on his knees he laid on his back, his arms and legs spread out. “Okay, but what’s the point of a dream if it just collapses on you? I mean, can’t we just dream a functional dream?”

“We should be able to control what happens. It is a dream, after all,” Kiku reasoned, watching the entire ruined town collapse in on itself. Cracks and rumbles pierced the air.

“We _should,”_ Alfred grumbled, “but when I tried to fly it didn’t work.”

“Perhaps we need to start smaller then. I really don’t know. I’m just theorizing,” he said quickly.

“Yeah! Yeah, maybe!” Alfred sat up, clapping his hands together. “Maybe I was just trying too big! I mean, even birds can’t fly immediately, right?”

Kiku’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What? What do you mean?”

Alright. Something small. Something. Small. He spread his hands out in front of him. What should he do...? Something small. His stomach gave a small growl. Food? A burger! That had to be small enough, right?

“What are you doing?” Kiku asked him, bemusedly.

“Sshh!” He hushed, closing his eyes. Okay, maybe he didn’t need Kiku to be quiet, but silence got him into the _zone._ Alfred thought of the type of burger he wanted, imagining its every aspect. A nice thick meat, not the cheap stuff… lots of lettuce, to make it healthy… and toasted buns. He loved toasted buns.

And then something fell onto his hand.

“Please tell me that is a burger,” Alfred muttered, not willing to open his eyes.

“I… well.” There was a moment of hesitation. “It’s a _bun,_ not exactly a burger,” Kiku muttered, staring at his companion’s hands in disbelief. 

“Wait, seriously?!” He cried, his eyes snapping open. Alfred gasped, and stared at the _lightly_ _toasted_ hamburger bun in his hands. There was even split down the middle, “Oh my God… Oh my _God…_ Keeks, I just made food out of nothing!”

Kiku could also only stare in disbelief. “How? How did you…”

Alfred impulsively took a bite of the bun. He almost melted when he actually _tasted_ it. Warm, buttery goodness filled his mouth, “Kiku, you have to try this!”

His raven-haired friend took the other bun and took a tentative bite. His eyes lit up.

“See!” Alfred laughed, “It’s actual, _legit food._ That’s so _weird_! You try it now, go on! Make something!”

Kiku looked around, “But I don’t know what to make.” His eyes landed on a, predictably, pink flower, but it hadn’t quite bloomed yet, “I will try something else.”

Alfred watched as Kiku mimicked his actions, spreading his hands out in front of him. Then, his hands began to glow in the slightest. And slowly… slowly… the flower opened up.

Alfred punched the air and whooped, “Kiku, we have literal superpowers here! Superpowers!” He stood up, and gestured around, “In here, we can make anything! Do anything!”

“I don’t think we can do anything quite yet…”

“Well, we can work our way up to that can’t we?” Alfred gasped, “Kiku, do you think we could make a portal out of here? Make our own gateway? Just really concentrate hard and bam, woosh~ We’re awake again!”

“I don’t think it would be that simple,” Kiku said, but Alfred, once again, was too caught up in his own thoughts to hear him.

“Alright, you gotta concentrate with me, Keeks, so it’ll be easier for both of us.” He clapped his hands together and stared down at the pink grass in mute absorption. He saw out the corner of his eye Kiku doing the same, and they both stared down at the grass. After a moment, Alfred closed his eyes. Concentrate… _Concentrate…_

_BANG!_

The echoing explosion shook both friends off their feet, and Alfred landed flat on his back like a turtle, wheezing. What was _that_?!

Sitting up on shaking arms, he quickly adjusted the glasses on his nose and stared out at the plain of grass which they had been staring at. He had to blink the white spots out of his eyes, and he shook his head to make sure he knew what he was seeing.

Their portal! They’d made their portal out of here! He scrambled up to take a look at the… big glowy ball thingy. It didn’t look much like a portal as much as it just looked like a fortune teller’s glass ball, but hovering in the air and producing a brilliant whitish yellow light.

“Kiku, Kiku!” He yelled excitedly, “We did something!”

“Is it… a good thing…” He heard his raven-haired friend reply, dazedly. Alfred turned to see Kiku pick himself up off the floor, and walk closer to examine the... Portal.

“Yeah! I think this is our way out!” Alfred put his finger on it, immediately retracting it when a spark traveled up his arm. “It feels tingly,” he laughed, but he rubbed his bicep when the feeling didn’t go away immediately.

Kiku tentatively put his palm on it, and a sharp _zap_ sound cut through the air. He yelped and stumbled back.

“Oh! You okay?” Alfred asked, extending a hand to Kiku to help him up.

Kiku didn’t take the offered hand, instead standing up by himself. “I’m fine,” he replied while staring at his hand. At least the portal didn’t leave a mark.

Alfred frowned. “It’s a bit weird isn’t it?” He turned back to the orb, “We try to make a portal and it gives us… this. Zappy electric ball thingy.” He paced around the object, thinking. This was meant to transport them to the waking world, not electrocute them. It needed to have some use … “...We should touch it together.”

Kiku glanced up. “How would that help?”

“Well, I mean. We _did_ make this together. It might work as a portal if we… y’know. Work together on it,” He said, with a small shrug, “Just throwin’ ideas out.”

Kiku looked back at the portal dubiously. “We could try it…”

They approached the orb, somewhat apprehensively. Alfred hesitated, before grabbing the light from the bottom, at the same time Kiku put his hand on the top. That weird sense of tingling was there, but surprisingly, it was a good kind of tingly. Still, he braced himself.

Alfred gasped when the light burst and everything turned white, radiating from the orb. His vision went completely white too before everything faded to black. (But… was that a hint of green he saw?)


	3. False Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Alfred realizes that there is more to the world around them.

When he awoke again, Alfred’s eyes felt heavy. Too heavy to possibly keep them open for too long. He brought a hand up underneath his glasses to rub at them fruitlessly, yawning. Where was he now? Apparently leaning against a tree of some sorts, judging by the rough texture of the bark against his back. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust - and then he remembered all that had happened. The flowers, the dream, the pastel land--

He could just see Kiku’s still form just next to him, leaning on the adjacent tree. The flowers were all around them- the flowers! They needed to get away from them! Alfred forced his limbs to move, sitting up and leaning across to nudge Kiku.

“Come on Keeks… wake up…” He muttered, coughing. It was almost as if the flowers were producing more pollen to keep them down. 

Kiku stirred. “Alfred…?”  His raven-haired companion replied in a mumble. 

Fighting to stay awake, Alfred pushed back on the tree and stumbled to a standing position. He gripped onto the tree to support himself as he extended a hand to Kiku. Or at least, where he thought Kiku was. It really was dark. “You okay?” 

At first, Kiku didn’t respond, and Alfred felt his heart drop. Had he dropped back off to sleep? The pollen was everywhere; swilling about their ankles, lightly dusting their clothes. But just before Alfred could shake him awake, Kiku grunted. “I… I think,” he mumbled, a hand going to his forehead. “Y-You?”

“I’m fine! Well, other than it feels like my head’s gonna split wide open,” Alfred tried to give a laugh, but it was bogged down by exhaustion and worry. “You think we’re out?”

Kiku finally spotted Alfred’s extended hand, but he shook his head as he tried to get up on his own. “I’m not sure--” He hissed in pain when he slid back down the tree, clutching his head. 

_ Kiku must also have a headache _ , Alfred realized, and he shook the offered hand in Kiku’s face with a tired smile. “Come on. Don’t want you getting into more dreams without me, ya know?” Another yawn escaped him, and Alfred briefly retracted his hand to smack himself in the face. “We can’t stay here any longer, we might fall asleep again.”

Finally, after a moment of hesitation, Kiku took Alfred’s hand. They both stumbled a bit, but thankfully Alfred was able to pull Kiku up. “Let’s go,” Kiku muttered drowsily, gesturing up and out of the small pit they were in. “We’re… We’re near the entrance, correct? It should be easy.” 

Alfred’s heart surged with hope as they slowly trudged out of the hollow, leaning on each other for stability. They really did escape! The further they walked away from the flowers, the more awake he felt. He looked behind them where the stream was. Maybe they could use the water to wake themselves up? No, they should get out, no need to waste time at the stream-- 

… Wait. Alfred squinted at the stream.  _ That can’t be right.  _ He stopped their walking, despite his companion’s protests. “Kiku, do you have a flashlight on you?”

Kiku turned to Alfred, giving him a quizzical look. “No, I don’t. I didn’t think we needed one. Why?” 

“I think there’s something near the stream.” Alfred squinted at the stream. Yeah, there was definitely something there! Or… A large amount of something. He couldn’t really see. But he knew that definitely had not been there before.

Kiku sighed tiredly. “Alfred, we need to go--” 

Oh! Wait! He could use his phone! It should be back, now that he was in the real world. “Just lemme get out my phone, please? I just want to see.” Without waiting for Kiku’s answer, Alfred dug around in his pocket. He could just shine a quick light over there just for curiosity’s sake, of course, they could check back tomorrow--

Alfred paled.  _ It still wasn’t there. _

Kiku, somewhat disturbed by Alfred’s silence, nudged him. “What’s wrong?” 

“My phone’s not here.”

Another sigh. “You must have dropped it near the flowers,” Kiku reasoned quietly, awkwardly patting Alfred’s shoulder. “If you’d like, we can use mine.” With a reassuring smile, he used a hand to reach into his own pocket. 

Alfred let out a sigh of relief. Yeah. Maybe he did drop it at the flowers. Honestly, Alfred wouldn’t know what he would do if Kiku wasn’t there with his calming input. He was the voice of reason. That was why their friendship worked out so well: Alfred was full of spontaneous ideas, Kiku was the mediator that sorted the good ideas from bad.  _ Man, we should be put into another group again. _

When the silence stretched on and on with nothing from Kiku, though, Alfred started to get uneasy. “Keeks?” He asked quietly. “Where’s your phone?”

Kiku’s answer was almost inaudible, but Alfred heard it well enough that his blood froze: “... I can’t find mine either.” 

It was then Alfred noticed several other oddities. Like how the park lights weren’t on. It was definitely night, so they would have turned on the lights to make it brighter for everyone. They weren’t far from the park, so they should have seen them! Glancing up at the sky, he saw that the moon was still a smudge in the sky, which was completely starless yet there appeared to be no clouds… Oh no. 

“We’re still dreaming,” Kiku realized, looking up at Alfred. “The portal, it didn’t bring us back. It… It sent us to a replica of the forest.” 

Alfred let out a groan of frustration, “Oh, I was so sure!” Stupid dream flowers, tricking them into thinking they were home! The portal hadn’t worked after all... He rubbed his forehead tiredly. His headache was still very much present, much to his displeasure, “So what do we do now?”

Kiku could give no answer, shaking his head sadly. Well, at least they were away from the sleep flowers. It would be incredibly bothersome if they had to stumble through this only half awake.

Alfred gripped Kiku tighter, his head whirling.  _ Oh God, if they couldn’t get out-- “ _ I’m going to check the stream. See if it’s still wet.”

“Alfred-san…” Kiku warned, though didn’t object too much. 

His mind was in denial like before. They  _ had  _ to be back now, they just  _ had  _ to be. Alfred turned towards the stream (inadvertently letting go of Kiku and making him stumble) and blindly stepped in the direction of the stream. 

He knew he had made it when his foot suddenly took a drop downwards, making his stomach flip over. And then his heart slid into his flipped stomach. The water…  _ it wasn’t wet. _

“Yeah…” He said, in a voice that sounded most unlike his own. Alfred cleared his throat, “Yeah, Keeks… we’re still dreaming.”

“Hold on, I’m coming over to you,” Kiku muttered in reply, trying to feel his way over to Alfred. Which, by the sounds of it, was proving to be extremely difficult: he could hear quiet rustling, then an occasional wince as he bumped into something else. Even with his adjusted eyes, it was difficult to see through all this darkness.

When Kiku nearly tripped over a root he decided to stop, “One second… I’m going to get us some light…”

“Huh?” Alfred asked, confusedly. Kiku just said he didn’t have a torch. 

Evidently, a torch wasn’t what he had in mind. There was a quiet  _ pop,  _ and a small orb of glowing light appeared in Kiku’s hand. It was much smaller than the portal, and much rounder too, giving off a brilliant pure white light. But the most important part now,  _ they could see.  _ Finally!

“Whoa!” Alfred exclaimed, his eyes sparkling, “How did you do that?”

His companion only shrugged in return. “I thought some light would be useful…” He said modestly, and held the ball up in the air, illuminating the terrain around them and their faces. Alfred looked around to see the mysterious shapes near the river were actually flowers. They looked similar to the ones that made them sleepy; only much, much darker in color. They were giving off so much pollen that it was swirling around his knees.

“Hey, at least we can see them…” Alfred muttered, bending down to pick a flower. He then brought it up to his nose and gave it a cautious sniff. 

The effects were immediate: his mind became numb and foggy; his limbs suddenly felt very heavy, and he stumbled backward into the river again, sending water flying and dropping the flower. 

“Careful Alfred!” Kiku called, “You’ll fall--” He shielded himself and the light from the splashed water.

Alfred tried to reply and ended up coughing uncontrollably as his body tried to expel the effects of the pollen. The action caught him so much by surprised he lost his balance and fell into the stream. The river’s cold influence kept him awake, as he coughed and hacked again.

When he looked up again, Kiku was by him, standing in the patch of flowers, “Are you okay?”

He nodded, and coughed a little more, “Yeah, yeah I’m--” Another cough. “I’m good.”

“What happened?”

Alfred pounded his chest again, “I--”  _ Cough _ . “I don’t know. I sniffed the flower and it--” Another cough. “It made me get all numb and tired. But the water kept me--” The coughing was starting to make him dizzy, and he tried to take a few slow, deep breaths. “It kept me awake. Maybe it’s like Inception,” he tried to joke, kicking up the water, “Weird… and kind of ironic that the flowers grow by water but the water keeps us awake.”

Kiku only nodded. Very strange indeed. He passed the orb of light back and forth between his hands unconsciously, making the shadows shift unnervingly. Alfred shuddered a little.

“So…” Alfred stood back up with a wobble. The land swooped around him for a moment, making him quite dizzy, “Whoa… um, anyway, how do we wake up now?”  HIs companion shrugged in response, “I don’t know. What kind of things wakes you up from dreams?” 

“Uh…” Alfred tried to think back to anything and everything Arthur had told him about dreams, but he couldn’t think of anything. He never said the flowers did this, after all. He supposed there had just been too much pollen for them to handle. Alfred frowned slightly at the thought. “Maybe… maybe it’s like Inception.” He muttered to himself, thoughtfully.

“Inception?” Kiku asked, quizzically.

“It’s this movie all about dreams, and people jumping from… different layers of dreams I guess?” Alfred tried to explain. “Like, every time you woke up from one dream, you entered a new dream in an upper layer. And you kept climbing up the layers until you woke up.”

“So how did they wake up, then?” 

Alfred shrugged. “A bunch of different ways. Hearing music from the outside, so that won’t work. Um.. water, definitely water. But…” He splashed the water with his foot. “Clearly doesn’t work here either. There’s falling too, but there’s nowhere to fall  _ from _ .” All the trees around them had smooth bark, no lower hanging branches whatsoever. There was also one other thing he could think of, and he was pretty sure it had occurred to Kiku by this time too.  _ Death.  _ But there was no need to resort to that just yet! There was a bunch of other things they could try first!

Kiku frowned to himself and bent lower to examine the flowers, “These flowers are odd… they are a much darker color from the ones in the real world.”

Alfred let out a nervous laugh. “I guess that just means they work stronger or something.” He shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. “I mean, look at what they did to  _ me _ . We’ll just have to--” He suddenly stopped, staring in bewilderment at Kiku. “... Keeks, what are you doing?”

Lifting the orb of light high above his head, Kiku reached into one of the flowers with his slender fingers. When he pulled his hand back out, they were caked in blue pollen. From the pensive look on his face, Alfred could tell he was thinking hard. “Maybe these flowers can serve as a sort of antidote,” he muttered, rubbing the pollen against his fingertips. “If we could somehow reverse the flower’s effects…” 

“Yeah, but are we  _ sure _ we should be touching the pollen like that?” Sure, it wasn’t anywhere near Kiku’s face at the moment, but with how strong the pollen was here in their dreams than in the real world… “Hey, how about we just magic our way through this? With our dream powers and everything?” 

Kiku shook his head. “We can’t just rely on our ‘dream powers’, Alfred. We can only do so much with them,” he reminded. He suddenly coughed, and he covered his mouth--

With his pollen-covered hand. 

A brief flash of panic crossed Kiku’s face before he collapsed into the river. The orb slid from his hand into the river along with him, seeping into the ground and expelling any light they had before. 

No no no-- “ _ Keeks!”  _ Alfred exclaimed as the wood darkened around them. He splashed water on Kiku, soaking him (if he could be soaked). Yet Kiku did not awaken, but he did stir very feebly. 

He grit his teeth, panic rising inside him. “No, you are  _ not  _ going back to pastel land. Damn it, wake  _ up!”  _ By this time he was aiming for his face, soaking him in what felt like half the river. The dark blue flowers leaned closer to them, trying to keep Kiku under. Finally, in a desperate move, Alfred smacked Kiku’s face--

“ _ Stop!”  _ Kiku sat bolt upright all of a sudden, breathing in great lungfuls of air. Before the coughing started; and once he started he clearly couldn’t stop.

Alfred sat back, red-faced and more than a little sheepish. “I - I - uh…”  _ I’m so sorry-- “ _ You weren’t waking up, I just thought--”  _ Stupid, stupid, you know Kiku doesn’t like being touched!--  _ “Are you okay now?”

His raven-haired companion nodded breathlessly, “Next time… just splash me please…” Kiku replied weakly as he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Well, yeah! But you weren’t waking up and I just thought…” Alfred trailed off awkwardly., thankful for the darkness now. He was fairly sure his face was bright red in embarrassment, “But you’re okay now! And uh… we should probably find our way out of here…” 

Kiku nodded, rubbing his slapped cheek, “But how? The portal doesn’t work…”

“Well, what else can we try?” Alfred mused, and thought hard, “There must be an edge to this forest. Can you make that light orb again?”

He watched as Kiku spread his hands out in front of him, and made the orb. It didn’t fade into existence, so much as it just suddenly… popped to life. It floated just above Kiku’s hand, and he raised it up into the air, casting its eerie glow.

“Right then!” Alfred began, and stood up, swirling the water about around him, “The river has to lead somewhere, so we’ll just follow that!” With renewed confidence, he stepped off downstream, Kiku following quietly behind.

They walked along in silence, no sound save for their footsteps in the water. The orb followed them and created ample light for the both of them, giving them a good few feet of visual. Alfred looked down, unnerved by the flowers beginning to line the side of the river bed. More and more seemed to bundle together and pump their pollen into the air.

Alfred adjusted his glasses and decided he’d have a go at making the light orb to pass the time. Copying Kiku’s actions of spreading his hands, he concentrated hard. Couldn’t be too difficult, right?

… Very difficult, apparently. Alfred tried to picture the light in his mind and conjure that to life, but all that came out were sparks. “Hey, uh, Kiku? How did you make that orb thingy?”

“Sorry?” Kiku asked, having only half been listening.

“Your light. I’ve been trying to make it, but...” A few more sparks shot from his fingers, and Alfred groaned in frustration. He slowed down to walk in line with his friend. “All I can make is sparks. Hold on…” He tried again, but more sparks shot out in proof. “See? It won’t… Man, this is  _ hard.”  _

Kiku watched the sparks briefly before looking up at Alfred. “You might be trying too hard,” he mused, letting the orb bob a little in the air. “Just, err…” He bit his lip in thought. 

Alfred clenched his fist and opened them again. “Although, maybe I can--” He concentrated, then gasped in delight all over again when another hamburger popped into existence. But this time it was an actual hamburger, not just the bun. “Hey hey! It actually worked this time!”

He rolled his eyes in an amused sort of way. “You’ve got to concentrate a little less,” Kiku continued, observing Alfred’s brightened expression. “Sort of… let go of most emotions and imagine light. If that… um… makes sense?”

Alfred wrinkled his nose. He had tried clearing his mind before, but whatever he did he couldn’t stop thoughts running across the empty space, “Ehhh… you can do the idealistic stuff. I can make the  _ actual  _ stuff.” He paused for a moment, then took a bite of his new food. He still couldn’t get over the near perfect taste of these dream burgers. It was almost as if his dream powers  _ knew _ what the perfect burger would taste like.

Kiku only nodded, turning away. He rubbed one of his arms, a slight shiver going through him. 

Alfred frowned, worried. “... Are you still cold? I could make another coat!”

He glanced up in surprise, then muttered, “Please. That would be helpful.”

“Hold my burger,” Alfred instructed, handing it over, and rubbed his hands together. Alright… A coat. Coat coat coat. “Just gotta do some imagining... Aaaaaand….” Something suddenly dropped on Kiku’s shoulders. “There! How do you like it?” 

Kiku visibly jumped when it appeared on him. Alfred beamed while Kiku inspected it. It wasn’t like his bomber jacket, however, more like a proper, thigh-length coat with a furry hood. He thought Kiku might want something a little more… dull. 

“Thank you, Alfred…” He murmured, pulling the sleeves over his hands automatically. Alfred nodded enthusiastically.

“I even got your size this time! Need me to make anything else?” He asked eagerly as he took a look around. “Because I think this walk’s gonna take a looooong time.”

“No thank you. The coat is enough.”

Shrugging, Alfred turned back on course. “Well, if you insist.” He began walking again, a little disappointed that Kiku hadn’t asked for anything else. Well, his choice. Alfred kept walking.

* * *

 

The silence stretched on as they walked, Alfred having long since given up on making light. He didn’t know how long they were walking - or even if time here passed the same as time in real life. He stifled a yawn as he thought of home. If -- no, wait,  _ when _ \-- people found their bodies, how will Arthur react? He’d probably tell him off for doing something stupid, and that was if he believed him. … How would Mattie react?

He was in thought for a long time before Kiku’s voice popped his bubble.

“Is it just me… or are there more flowers now?” 

He looked along the edge of the bank. Sure enough, Kiku was right; where before there had been only a few flowers lining the riverbank, now there were  _ hoards.  _ What was especially weird was that they seemed to lean in closer to them. Alfred hoped that was just the wind, despite the fact that he couldn’t hear or feel it, and he quickly shuffled to the middle of the river. “Uuugh… you’re right. Where did they  _ come _ from?”

Kiku knelt down and splashed some water on his face. Alfred rubbed his eyes tiredly. This forest was taking for freaking ever. If they continued like this, who knew how long it would take until the flowers got strong enough to overpower them? He really didn’t want to go back to that pink-as-far-as-the-eye-can-see place. Alfred looked up at the trees towering over them. … Huh. 

He stepped out of the river and crossed to a nearby tree. He felt slightly woozy as he did so, and he held onto the tree tightly for a moment. “I’m going to climb this. See how far the forest goes. Can you raise your light up a bit?”

Kiku, who still stood in the river, managed to float the orb over to him. Alfred couldn’t help but noticed how tired Kiku looked. Did  _ he _ look like that? He tried to look in the orb to see if there was a reflection, but all that managed to achieve was hurting his eyes.

“Right, okay,” he mumbled to himself for encouragement. He could do this. Alfred swung himself up to the first branch. With a better vantage point, he could see the tree in the orb’s light. His confidence wilted a little. That looked… rather high up. The fact that he was feeling a little dizzy wasn’t helping matters- though the further he climbed, the further away he would get from the flowers. So that should help, right? He determinedly scrambled up the tree, teetering dangerously on a few. He could feel Kiku’s eyes boring into him from below, and took a deep breath.  _ Steady… _

“Alfred, are you  _ sure  _ you can do this?” Kiku asked when Alfred nearly lurched over a branch altogether. HIs theory that the distance between him and the flowers was proving to only be a slight bit true.

Alfred gave a nervous chuckle in reply, looking down. His heart dropped slightly, “Of course I can!”

Kiku didn’t look convinced -- rather, he looked very concerned -- and Alfred wasn’t confident of himself either when he saw how far there was left to go. Trees weren’t normally this height! This was ridiculous. Alfred blinked away more dizziness as he climbed. 

He had to pause when his sight tilted dangerously to the right. “There-- There are no flowers on the tree, right?” 

“No…” Kiku peered over to see Alfred better, and the light dipped a little, “Alfred, careful--” 

Alfred didn’t notice how the tree branch he was standing on wobbled dangerously. “Hey, wait, keep the light up!” He called out, looking down again. The branch wobbled more as he shifted his weight. “Just-- Don’t worry, stay in the river, I think I’m almost up there!” 

“Alfred, the  _ branch _ \--” 

A large cracking noise filled the air. The sudden drop made Alfred unbalanced, and before he could reach for another bough, he plummeted through the air, snagging several other branches on his way down. He had barely enough time to yell out as he collided to the ground, sending a cloud of pollen up around him.

* * *

 

The world was suddenly very fuzzy, and dim. His ears strained, and Alfred could just make out faded out sound (shouting?) in front of him. Like it was coming from behind a thick sheet of glass. He tried to lift his arms and managed to make them twitch slightly. Maybe he could just rest his eyes for a bit, gather energy...

Something very cold hit his closed eyes, which immediately snapped open. His surroundings became startling clear, and he could hear Kiku frantically splashing water onto him, his warbled voice shouting, “Don’t go back to sleep!”

“Whuhhh… Keeks?” He mumbled, coughing and convulsing a little on the floor. The coldness stopped coming, and Alfred quickly tried to sit back up, “W-Wait… what happened?”

“You… you fell out of the tree.” Kiku explained, “Quickly, get up before the pollen gets to you again.”

“Huh? O-Oh yeah…” He coughed some more as he rose from his spot, the world tilting slightly as he did so, “Right… It’d probably be better if you climbed it this time,” Alfred tried to give a small chuckle, but it ended up as a coughing fit and leaned against the tree as everything span around, “J-Just… hold on…”

It was a few moments before he could take a deep breath and open his eyes again. Kiku was looked at him worriedly, the orb floating next to him. The light was harsh at first, so much so he had to bring a hand up to shield his eyes. Eventually, he got used to it, and he tried to grin. “Heh… I’m good now.”

“Good… do you need to sit down?” Kiku asked, giving him a once-over that gave Alfred the impression he was reading him like a book. Perhaps he was, knowing Kiku’s ability to read the atmosphere.

“Huh? Oh-- Nah, I’m good. I can-- I can hold the orb, if you want,” Alfred replied, running the back of his hand over his forehead, exhausted, before reaching it out to take the orb.

“What?” Kiku looked up at Alfred in surprise. “You want-- I thought you were joking.” 

Alfred felt his throat a bit to soothe it from all the coughing. “Well, we need  _ someone  _ to look around. I obviously can’t, so…” He gave a comforting smile. “I’ll hold your orb for you?”

Kiku pursed his lips together. “... Right.” 

He didn’t hear the apprehension in Kiku’s tone upon taking the orb in his hand. It floated a few centimeters above them, and whenever he moved his hands about the orb slowly slid up and down in the air too. Alfred tested it out for a few minutes as Kiku started climbing, a grin splitting his face. “Hey, this is really cool!”

“Can you keep it still please?” Asked Kiku, somewhat annoyed. “I can’t see the branches properly with the shadows moving.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” He kept it still after that, squinting upwards at Kiku going higher. It was certainly very dark up there, where the light couldn’t reach… wait. Could he raise the light  _ up? _

“Do you need me to raise the light?” Alfred called up to him. 

It took Kiku a while to respond as he gripped tightly to a branch. “That would be - um - ideal,” he ground out. 

“Just a moment!” Right. Raise the light up. Shouldn’t be too difficult…? Luckily in experimenting around, he’d just about got to grips with the controls of the orb. It dipped slightly when it neared the tree, but other than that it held steady, “Good?”

“H-Hai, thank you.” Kiku’s voice sounded very far away by now, and Alfred craned his neck to see. Surely he must be at the top by now! “So… what’s up there? See anything?”

There was a beat of silence. Alfred started to get hopeful. Maybe there was another town like the one at the plains, but this time inhabited! They could ask for help to get out of this weird land, that would be ideal!--

“Forest!” Kiku called back down. “Nothing- Nothing but forest everywhere.” ... And just like that, Alfred’s heart slid into his shoes. 

“You’re - are you sure?” He asked, desperately, “I mean, the trees are tall and it’s really dark, there could be something hidden in the trees--”

A small  _ snap  _ of a branch cut him off from his ramblings, and Alfred immediately fell silent. If Kiku said there really wasn’t anything, and the portal really didn’t work-- no, there  _ had  _ to be a way out. They just hadn’t  _ found  _ it yet. Alfred inhaled through his nose. There was no point going into a panic all over again.

“Alfred-san?” He was snapped out of his thoughts in time to look up. Another branch snapped, but Kiku sounded a lot closer to the ground now, “Can- can you lower the orb down again please?”

“Huh?” ... Oh! The orb was still up at the top of the tree. It had also dimmed a little in his absent-mindedness. “Yeah, sure, no problem!”

Turns out, lowering it was much easier than raising it up. Alfred squinted to where he was supposed to lower it  _ to…  _ oh. Not a lot lower. He kinda figured going down was easier than climbing up…  Kiku appeared to be struggling a little now, only having gone halfway down the tree. The orb dimmed more.

So… the more overexerted he was, the dimmer the light got. Kiku couldn’t scramble his way down in the dark! 

“Hey!” Alfred called up, having gotten a bright idea, “Just land in my arms!” 

“N-No thanks…” Kiku replied, a little faintly. Another, louder  _ snap _ made his heart leap out of his ribcage for a moment. Any second now, he was going to fall--

“If you fall, we might lose our light!” He warily eyed the branch Kiku was perched on. Despite Kiku being quite light (at least, he looked light), the branch was leaning a little too low under his feet. “We don’t want a repeat of me, right?” He forced a small laugh. The orb dimmed more. 

“Well…” 

“I promise I’ll catch you!” When he saw Kiku’s grip slacken, he held his arms out to catch him. He needed him back in the river  _ now  _ or else they’d both be gone, back to pastel land. Or… wherever else the dream would send him.

“Okay…” Alfred almost missed it the word, but he definitely didn’t miss Kiku dropping down and  _ straight  _ into his arms bridal style. Feeling almost triumphant with himself (he just convinced  _ Kiku Honda  _ to be  _ held in his arms _ ), Alfred marched straight over to the river and crouched down. 

“Right, you still awake?” He asked when Kiku didn’t stir. Rather, he seemed very tense in his arms. “I think we should continue downstream. I mean, there’s got to be some kind of ending, right--?”

Before either could say anything more, the orb dropped from the sky and hit the ground with a muffled  _ thud.  _ It seeped into the ground, plunging them into darkness. Alfred couldn’t quite be sure, but he thought Kiku’s fist curled into his jacket a bit.

“... Ah.” He bit his lip in thought, laying his raven-haired friend in the river. Kiku didn’t make any movement for a while, and Alfred could hear heavy breathing. Maybe he really wasn’t all that fine about landing in Alfred’s arms. He waited, slowly getting warier and warier in the darkness. Alfred wasn’t a big fan of the dark, especially in a spooky dream world. “So,” he whispered quietly, “are we going to make another light, or…?” At Kiku’s silence, he coughed awkwardly. “Oh, right sorry--” Alfred sat back.  _ Patience. _ “When you’re ready and all.”

They sat in the darkness for a while. Considering all the craziness that just happened to them, it was unsettling to sit in silence. To fill it, Alfred started to swish the water for a while until  _ that _ started to sound eerie. 

Alfred perked up when he heard Kiku sit up in the water. He didn’t speak, possibly too much of an effort, but he did bring his hands up and start trying for another light. Alfred waited, watching him at work, but all that Kiku could produce were sparks. 

“Hey, uhh…” Alfred rubbed the back of his neck. “You okay?”

“Fine,” Kiku replied through gritted teeth. He didn’t sound angry, though, more he was concentrating very, very hard. Alfred grew worried.

“You... You need any help?” He held his hands up without waiting for an answer, and neared them towards Kiku’s, “We have to be less impulsive, right? That’s why you can do it. And… erm…” His voice turned into a mumble at the end. He didn’t know what else to say.

Kiku took a deep breath, then concentrated more. The sparks seemed to last longer now, which was a good thing, before fading with a  _ pop _ . With every pop, however, Kiku’s hands seemed to tremble.  

“Hey, hey--” Alfred put his hands under Kiku’s to stop the trembling, half expecting him to immediately pull away. When he didn’t, Alfred’s heart leaped. “Okay. Okay. We have to-- um--” 

More sparks popped between them. At first, they just fizzled out, but soon they began collecting together in a sphere. An  _ orb.  _ It grew in size, and soon it became as big as the other orbs of light. “You - you got it?” He asked, hands experimentally backing away. 

“Wait,” Kiku muttered, eyes trained on the orb. “It’s going out.” Sure enough, the orb lost light the further Alfred’s hands were from the orb. If Kiku didn’t say anything, the light could’ve faded entirely. 

Alfred brought his hands closer again, and the light regained its strength.  _ Oh.  _ That was weird. “Yeah… erm.” He blew out a surprised breath. “Okay. It’s going to have to be another teamwork kind of thing.” They both stood up slowly. “This is going to be difficult to both hold…”

But, just as he said that, he felt the balance of the orb tip. It was almost as if there was some kind of power being built up behind it. The orb moved from Kiku’s fingertips into Alfred’s palm. Kiku pulled his hands away completely, and this time the orb didn’t dim. Alfred didn’t notice, but Kiku looked exhausted. 

“Huh?” Alfred muttered, bobbing the orb up and down for a moment before it clicked. Kiku had transferred the orb to his hand to make it less awkward to hold. “Oh,  _ cool. _ ” He grinned up at Kiku. “You ready to go?”

Kiku nodded as he rubbed his eyes. “Which way?”

“Well, we’ve been heading downstream all this time.” Alfred pivoted on the balls of his feet to face the stream again. The light brightened for a moment before dimming again, “May as well keep going. I mean, there has to be  _ something  _ if we just keep going.” 

Kiku let out a tired sigh, almost hesitant. Before Alfred could ask what was wrong, Kiku strode ahead of Alfred, and all he could do was follow with the light. 

* * *

“So…” Alfred said, at last, when the silence seemed to stretch on again, “I’ve been thinking. You know how we made that portal to get home, right?” He glanced behind him to gauge Kiku’s reactions. Kiku slowed down a while ago, making it easier for Alfred to outmatch his pace. “And, I mean, we  _ sort of  _ created our version of home, since this forest was in the real world. But it’s more… solid. Not like that village place.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I think I’m just rambling at this point.”

Kiku just nodded absentmindedly. Alfred frowned. Was he even listening? It was then he saw just how pale he was, and how his posture seemed to slump quite a bit, “Hey, uh, Kiku? You don’t look so good. You okay?” He glanced around, “Stupid flowers aren’t even decreasing.” If anything they were  _ in _ creasing, lining the riverbed in thick rows.

Kiku nodded again, more vigorously this time. Alfred would’ve taken that as an answer if he didn’t hear him suck in a breath and stumble backward. He quickly shifted the orb into one hand (which proved to be difficult, if the light’s dimming weren’t evidence of that), and reached his other hand to support Kiku. “Hey, whoa!” 

Kiku didn’t even try to resist. He looked much too tired to anyway. Alfred hoisted him up with one arm, “At this point, I don’t think the river’s going to even help.” For a moment, he contemplated leaving the sanctuary of the river altogether when it hit him: “Kiku, you haven’t eaten!”

“What?” Kiku asked bemusedly. He almost seemed dazed. “I’m not hungry…”

“No, no, you don’t understand! I’ve eaten a burger and a hamburger bun since we’ve arrived here! You haven’t had anything! Just- just try for something small, that’ll help… I can’t make anything right now, I’m holding the orb. You’re going to have to make it yourself--” The orb’s light dimmed slightly, and Alfred grit his teeth, willing it to be bright again. “Come on!.”

Kiku still didn’t look convinced, but Alfred saw him hold his hands out anyway, trying to make something. He immediately saw that he was struggling again, and the orb kept dimming in his hand, not making matters any better. Alfred tried not to let his panic get the better of him, struggling himself to keep the light up. The thought that Kiku might fall back asleep, and this time for good, made his heart pound out of his ribcage. 

There was only a fraction of light left by now, and Kiku had produced nothing still. Alfred kept biting at his lip, nervously, “Kiku-- Kiku, you’ve got to concentrate hard. I mean, like, um…” It was so difficult to explain. “Like, try and visualize every detail in your mind. Not just the exterior, or anything. Every. Single. Detail.” He took a deep breath, and the light brightened a tiny bit. “I know you can do it.”   


He couldn’t, Alfred could see that. He could hear Kiku’s ragged breathing, his hands shaking, when all of a sudden his body dropped to the floor. 

_ Shit shit shit-- “ _ Kiku!” He all but flung the orb away in his panic,  _ just  _ managing to catch Kiku before he collapsed, “No no no no no no no--” Almost clumsily, Alfred dipped Kiku back into the stream, vigorously shaking him, splashing him, but all to no avail. Now he was knelt over in the stream again, he could feel the pollen pressing in at him on all sides, threatening to choke and grab him too. Alfred put his jacket over his nose and mouth to block it out, as his eyes stung with the effort to keep them open, “Kiku,  _ please--” _

They were both going to have to leave the river area, weren’t they? Alfred scooped Kiku up again in the same manner as before and stumbled over the river’s edge. He could barely see in front of his face, but it wasn’t safe to make light right now. Alfred broke into a run, holding Kiku tightly. 

Running in low visibility was not as fun as the movies made it. He cursed whenever he tripped over a root, and once or twice he ran into a tree. The flowers never seemed to end! When he stumbled over a large fallen branch, his jacket slipped off his lower face. Now he was completely subjected to the pollen.  _ Surely  _ there must be clear air somewhere! He just had… to keep… running… 

It was a few minutes of pure running, having no idea which way he was going, before he had to stop and collapse as well. Gently setting Kiku down on the floor, Alfred took a look around the small clearing he’d stopped in. There wasn’t any flora at all, and the air seemed much fresher. He could feel the lingering effect of the flowers, true, but it wasn’t as strong as before. Alfred let out a relieved sigh.  _ They made it. _

After a few moments of rest, Alfred sat up. He pinched the back of his neck to wake himself up -- it might not wake him up in real life, but at least it reminded him not to fall asleep here. Kiku was still out cold, and Alfred cursed himself for not bringing any water. It definitely would’ve worked here. Maybe there was another source of water around here? 

Alfred took another deep breath -- thank God for fresh air -- before he went to make more light. But of course, only sparks left his fingertips. Of course. The one moment he needed light… 

He heard quiet coughs behind him. 

Alfred whirled around in surprise, but he couldn’t help but give a huge sigh of relief. Kiku was awake! Awake and  _ alive! _ Alfred collected Kiku in a desperate hug. “Ohh, you really scared me Keeks… thank God…” His voice almost cracked.

Kiku looked around, and he opened his mouth to speak before his body was overtaken by desperate coughs and hacks, as his body tried to expel the pollen from his system immediately. 

“Oh--” Alfred hesitated a minute, before gently beginning to rub circles on Kiku’s back. Francis had done it to him when he was younger… back then… back home… Alfred let out a small, choked sob.  _ Oh no no, don’t cry now, you need to be there for Kiku! _

“Al- Alfred-san?” Kiku managed to get out, breaking the tight hug. Alfred hastily tried to wipe his eyes of tears and give a watery smile.

“Y-Yeah?” He swallowed thickly, hoping his voice was offhand and steady.

His raven-haired companion turned around slightly, looking up at him concernedly. “... Are you alright?” 

“Yeah, yeah! I’m fine--”

“Alfred.”

He took in a deep breath. No, Kiku was right. He wasn’t fine, “I was just-- I was really, really scared. I made you join me and seeing you collapse--” Alfred cut his voice off as he felt another sob bubble in his throat, “... I just, I want to wake up, but I don’t know how to do it. I feel so  _ lost  _ and  _ stuck  _ here. It’s so stupid and unfair and I feel so powerless here because I can’t even  _ do  _ anything and… everything here is my fault and I just can’t  _ fix  _ it!” 

Kiku was slight for a moment, before he spoke in a low, solemn voice, that made Alfred feel a bit calmer, “It is not your fault. You didn’t know all this would happen. Besides, if it wasn’t for you, I would be in eternal sleep. And…” Kiku’s eyes met Alfred’s, “You are not alone in this either. You know that, right?”

Alfred rubbed his eyes under his glasses, which had somehow managed to fill with tears, “I--” He took in a shaky breath. “But what if we never get out? I’ll never see Mattie or Francis… you’ll never get to see your brothers…” He felt so horrible for breaking down in front of Kiku just as he recovered from the flowers, but he couldn’t stop, “I always do dumb things and then something always goes wrong and just--” The sob finally broke.

Alfred suddenly felt hands on his shoulders. “We will find a way out,” Kiku spoke with so much conviction that Alfred almost believed him. “If not by ourselves, then someone will find us in the woods. You’re not dumb either. In fact, it is mostly because of you that we’ve gotten anywhere.”

Alfred took another deep breath, before giving Kiku a real smile this time, if still watery. “Y-Yeah. I guess.” He hurriedly wiped away his tears, a little thankful that there wasn’t any light around. “… Thanks. I needed that.” He took a look around, “Well, we’re pretty far from the river now, and the flowers. So… um… want to have breakfast? You know, just in case we come across more flowers.” 

“Breakfast?” Kiku repeated curiously. Alfred just shrugged.

“Well, I know I get all tired and cranky when I don’t eat enough. And technically, we didn’t even have dinner before coming here. It’s a wonder we’ve made it this far!” He rubbed his hands together, quickly putting on another bright smile. No more tears! “So! We’re gonna need some light. I can make it, so you don’t have to worry about making food  _ and  _ keeping the light on--”

“I can make it,” Kiku said hastily, and within a few moments, they had light again. This time, the area was less spooky, though Alfred still did his best not to look at the darkness around him. 

Alfred stretched his back. “Alright. Seeing as we’re in a wood, we may as well go picnic style, right?” He chuckled. “Don’t want to eat off a dirty floor. Right! Blue or red, Kiku?”

Kiku, who was busying himself with the light, paused a moment, “Um… Red?”

Alfred snapped his fingers, and a red-checkered blanket popped into existence. It landed on his hands quietly, almost feeling like a cloud. Alfred grinned as he stood up and unfolded it. “Yeah, this is great! Let’s lay it down and make some food.” Things were looking better already. He looked up and found what Kiku was doing with the light. It was now much, much bigger and brighter, and it had a sort of Chinese lantern look to it. “Ooh! That’s cool!”

Once the blanket was laid out with the corners patted smooth, Alfred took another look at the much more illuminated clearing. It was easy to see now, though the shadows that lurked just beyond the clearing made his stomach backflip. He tried not to look there too much, and his gaze fell upon something else instead.

“Oh… those aren’t… dead flowers, are they?” Alfred asked, uncertain. Kiku followed his gaze to where Alfred was peering at a patch of wilted, greyed flowers, “They’re kinda creepy…”

“Do you think they still have the sleep effects?” Kiku questioned. Alfred shrugged, and he crouched down to investigate. He picked up a dead flower up in his hand and watched as it crumbled to grey dust. It didn’t tire him, but Alfred did feel resentment towards it. The dust scattered around the grass like ashes.

“No. It’s dead,” he said with a hint of bitterness. He picked up another flower, and just like the last, it quickly turned into ash scattered in the grass. Alfred stood up and moved back to the picnic blanket. “I’m surprised it even grew here. The river’s so far away…”

“Perhaps it rains here,” Kiku reasoned, looking around and then up. The sky was completely bereft of clouds presently. “Or it's just dreaming logic.”

Alfred just shrugged. “Eh. As long as there are no flower patches to make us sleepy. So anyway, what do you want for breakfast? Or dinner, because dinner’s cool too.”

Kiku shuffled closer onto the blanket, kneeling upright, “Oh, um, anything. I’m not picky.”

“Right then!” He clapped his hands together again. “Hope you don’t mind a good ol’ American breakfast becaaaaaauuuuuse…” With a deep breath, he pointed at the blanket and snapped his fingers. A split second later, a heaping pile of pancakes, complete with syrup and strawberries appeared dead center of the red-checkered rug. “This party is about to get started~”

Kiku stared at the pancakes, clearly surprised. “That was… quick…” 

“Yeah! I mean, it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it,” he beamed, and he was about to reach for a pancake when-- “Oh! You should make something too, and we can share our dishes!”

“Um…” Kiku looked uncertain for a moment, “Okay…” 

It only took a  _ little _ longer than Alfred, but with a slight  _ pop,  _ an array of small rice balls sat next to the pancakes. 

“Ooh!” Alfred leaned closer in awe. He took one in his hand to examine it. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but aren’t these your rice ball thingies?” 

“Yes…” Kiku replied, steadily. He was staring at his hand in disbelief, as though he couldn’t quite swallow what had just happened, “Onigiri.”

“Bro, that is  _ so cool!”  _ He exclaimed, and split the rice ball in his hand open, “What’s in it?”

“I don’t know.” Kiku replied, with a shrug, “I was thinking of a number of things. Try it.”

Alfred popped one half in his mouth, slowly chewing to try and discern the taste, “Ooh it’s--” He couldn’t help but smile at Kiku’s disapproving stare --  _ don’t talk with your mouth full, Alfred _ \-- and he swallowed quickly. “It tastes kinda fishy.” 

“Probably squid then,” Kiku replied, eating his own rice ball. He popped the other half into his mouth and licked off his fingers of rice before reaching for a pancake.

“I’m gonna go eat my own thing. Ya want some?” Another brief snap of his fingers caused some cutlery to clatter down onto the blanket, and Alfred reached over to grab it, “After we eat, we should probably get going again.”

“But where to?” Kiku asked, “Should we make another portal?”

“We could?” Alfred sighed. “We did that last time, and it sent us to the forest that wasn’t even real. For all we know, it’s the pastel land in disguise.” He dug his fork into the pancakes and took a huge bite. Mmm, still warm… “ But then again, the flowers didn’t grow there but they do here. So, uh… maybe we’re closer to being awake?” Alfred shrugged hopelessly. “Like different layers of consciousness? Ugh, I don’t heckin’ know!”

“Maybe…” Kiku took his own fork. “But then we’d just get closer and closer to reality without ever waking up.” 

“So… we really are helpless until someone tries to find us in the woods.” Alfred groaned, “Great, just great.” He flopped back on the blanket, with a huff, “Didn’t you say Yao was really into the supernatural and stuff? Did he tell you anything?”

He didn’t hear the somewhat stiffness in Kiku’s tone next, “I… tend to tune out of Yao-san when he talks about that. And I don’t think he would know anything about any of this anyway. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Alfred tried to hide his disappointment a little. “Arthur did mention something about the future, but we haven’t seen anything all future-y. Unless we go through some kind of weird apocalypse that turns everything pink,” he laughed, then went a little silent, both of them busy eating.

“Y’know…” Alfred picked up another rice ball, “I kinda  _ do  _ wanna try the portal thing again. But I don’t know where we would even go. Up?”

Kiku could only shrug, “I don’t know.”

“Well.” He sighed, “It’s all we got, so we may as well try it and try to ascend to some higher level of consciousness.”

Kiku nodded in agreement, and once they were finished they stepped to one side of the picnic blanket. The side,  _ ugh,  _ with the dead flowers on. Alfred’s heel stepped in the greyed patch slightly, and he looked down in confusion when his heel slipped into the ground.  _ What the?--  _ “Argh!” He shouted when his foot slipped in more, lurching him back. 

“Alfred-san!” Kiku hastily leaned forwards and grabbed Alfred’s flailing hand, pulling him back upright. He staggered forwards a little, then turned back.

“What the  _ hell  _ was--” He fell silent, as he looked at the patch of dead flowers. But they weren’t a patch of dead flowers anymore. They had turned into a small crater, which was very,  _ very  _ reminiscent of the one the entire town had been swallowed up by. Alfred slowly backed away, though the hole didn’t get any bigger. “What… what even happened?”

“The flowers.” Kiku muttered, staring at them, “When you touched them they all crumbled to ash and then… made this.”

Alfred laughed nervously. “Let- let’s get away from them then. Make our portal somewhere else.”

Kiku agreed hastily, and both of them backed to the complete opposite side of the hole so there would be no risk of falling in. Luckily, that was the only dead flower patch he could see. Alfred cleared his throat. “Right… um. Portal! Should we have a destination in mind when we do this? So we can at least control where we go?”

“Where to?” Kiku asked, looking up at him, “Or just, somewhere that doesn’t try to kill either one of us?”

“That sounds like a good start.” Alfred said, “Somewhere calm and peaceful, that can’t be turned dangerous…” Calm and peaceful…. What place would be calm and peaceful…

Another loud  _ bang  _ shook them both off their feet again, along with the remains of the picnic. Alfred, once again, was knocked flat on his back. He wiped a strawberry from his forehead, as he looked up at their creation. “... Is it just me, or is the thing purple now?”

The both of them scrambled to their feet, discarding the picnic and examined the portal, which was now a deep, pulsating violet color. Kiku looked up at Alfred. “Should we…?”

“Well,” he laughed, “We got nothing to lose, am I right?” With that, he placed his hand on the portal.


	4. Hostile Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kiku discovers that these 'dream worlds' are more dangerous than they initially thought.

This time, Kiku was fully conscious when the portal transported them. It was a strange experience; everything went a purple-tinted white, and his feet lifted off the ground, but his hand was glued to the orb. He could practically feel the previous world melting around him and renewing into something different.

And suddenly, he feet slammed into the floor none too gently. Kiku’s knees buckled, and he stumbled backwards into something -- or someone -- taking it down with him. 

THUMP.

Kiku blinked the black dots out of his eyes, and it took a moment for him to realise that he was lying on top of Alfred. Once he did however, he immediately scrambled off, hastily mumbling some sort of apology. Kiku could feel a hardwood floor beneath his knees, and saw windows and a rug… they weren’t outside anymore.

Alfred didn’t seem to hear his apology, as he groaned and adjusted his glasses that were lying crooked on his face, “Where… where are we?”

“I don’t know.” Kiku took a look around - a proper look this time. They were in a house, that much was clear, but the place seemed unable to decide whose house this was. Some parts he recognised, like the kitchen countertops and familiar Chinese-style clock on the wall. But other parts he did not recognise at all. “Some sort of house. I wasn’t thinking of houses though - this must be your dream.”

“Yeah, but...” Alfred sat up slowly. “The kitchen’s supposed to be that way, not connected and--” His gaze fell upon a small vase, filled with blue flowers. “That wasn’t there before.”

“Oh, it’s in my home,” Kiku said, mildly, and stood up. It then struck him. “This house is a mix of ours, then,” he realized, looking around him more. This world did an excellent job of molding their houses from their childhoods.

“Uh…” Alfred said, slowly approaching the vase, “Were these in it before?” He picked up one of the flowers carefully, and Kiku realised upon seeing a flurry of pollen swirl to the floor that they were the blue sleeping flowers.

“No. They were Chrysanthemums before.” Kiku frowned as he watched as Alfred put the flower back in the vase. Then, to wash the pollen off his hands, he crossed the kitchen to the kitchen and turned the on the tap.

Alfred frowned as he twisted both handles of the sink. “There’s no water,” he announced, frustratedly turning the tap “off”. Alfred shook his hand over the sink to rid himself of the pollen instead. “At least the flowers are only in the vase though.”

Kiku nodded, but he couldn’t help feeling that they had not seen the last of these flowers in this new world. With his growing unease, he couldn’t help but suggest, “Should we move on or explore a bit more?”

 

“We might as well explore,” Alfred shrugged. “And honestly, I’m not up to making another portal right now. My head feels like it’s gonna split.”

Kiku knew where the headache was coming from; his own head was throbbing badly and he put a hand up to rub at his forehead, trying to soothe it. Alfred split off into another direction altogether -- heading for the steps -- while Kiku looked at the rooms on the downstairs. There appeared to be a long corridor of them, all lined up. As he investigated, Kiku noticed that some things couldn’t possibly be architecturally correct (he had to squint very hard at two rooms right next to each other that would have to overlap in the middle), some rooms were closed off, and some locked. One even had just a brick wall behind it.

“The upstairs stayed!” Kiku heard Alfred call down, which was immediately followed up by, “...Sort of…” And some indistinguishable muttering. He closed the door to some kind of basement, and headed up the stairs himself, curious.

It looked like just a strip of narrow corridor with more doors at first, which were all open and unrecognisable to Kiku. He looked up and saw a hatch to the attic. … No, not a hatch. An ordinary red front door. Alfred didn’t seem to spot it yet, muttering and frowning still about the strange lack of a bathroom.

“Is that yours?” Kiku asked, pointing up at it and cutting off his ramblings. Alfred followed his gaze.

“Huh?--” Alfred looked up, his eyes widening, “Uhh, no. That’s not mine. We had a hatch but it blended in with the ceiling.”

“Then why is it here?” Kiku frowned, trying to puzzle it out. It was just… There. Kiku wasn’t sure if the fact that it wasn’t inherently dangerous was a good thing or not. “...Should we go up?”

“We could...” He glanced at Kiku, then back up to the door. When he reached up, he missed the door handle by a few inches. “I can’t reach it though,” Alfred muttered, trying again to reach for the handle. Nothing. He thought for a moment more, looking at Kiku again, when he brightened. “I could lift you up? Yeah, give you a boost up so you can open the door!” 

His heart plummeted, but it was the only way. Kiku would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what was behind the door. With a slow nod, Kiku stepped forward. Alfred hesitated before grabbing his hips and lifting him up to the hatch. Kiku outstretched his hand, his fingers just barely missing the doorknob.

“If you want me to let go, just say the word,” Alfred told him, just as Kiku reached up further, trying to get a hold. “I can always get a stool or something, I think I know where one is.”

Kiku just nodded distractedly, and finally got a grip on the handle. But as he did so, it completely melted under his fingers. Into dust. Grey dust. Kiku shielded his eyes from it, then felt something drop onto him.

Nothing could prepare them for the literal avalanche of midnight blue sleeping flowers and pollen that dropped on them. 

Alfred didn’t stand a chance; he dropped like a rock to the floor. Kiku was luckier -- somewhat. Alfred had let him go the moment the flowers came crashing down, letting Kiku stumble back and out of the pile of flowers. He hastily put his new jacket up to his nose in an attempt to block the pollen out. His eyes watered and stung with the sheer amount of effort of keeping them open, and his limbs felt as though they were being weighed down by a force much stronger than him.

But he had to stay awake. Kiku’s mind became foggy, and he staggered upright, seizing Alfred by the wrists and hauling him out of the haze, towards the stairs. The pollen was truly everywhere; sticking to the walls, clinging to their clothes and being trodden into the carpet. The fact that they were still recovering from the effort of making a portal didn’t help matters either. 

Kiku managed to drag Alfred’s unconscious form to the top of the stairs. It was marginally away from the pollen, but not far enough. He glanced down the stairs, then back up at the pollen haze looming closer. Right. Okay... He somehow had to get a sleeping Alfred down the stairs. … While he himself was half-asleep. 

There really wasn’t any time to figure out how he was supposed to do this, so Kiku did the first thing that popped into his head: dragging Alfred down the stairs. He winced whenever Alfred’s head bounced off the steps, but he couldn’t think about that now. Once they were all the way down, Kiku propped Alfred on the couch, and collapsed right next to him. “Alfred?” 

There was pollen pressed into Alfred’s clothes, streaking down his face, collecting in his hair… Hastily, Kiku brushed off a majority of the pollen off, but who knew how much he actually inhaled? “Alfred-san, please,” he begged. “You need to stay awake.” Once Alfred was mostly pollen-free, Kiku forced himself to sit back and wait. To soothe his anxiety, he bit down on his thumbnail, something he hadn’t done since he was a child. 

Almost two minutes later (which really felt like hours), Alfred started to cough. 

Kiku gasped, about to come closer when he hesitated, then stopped. “Alfred? Are you awake?” He asked, watching Alfred closely. 

Alfred didn’t respond. It was then that Kiku realized Alfred wasn’t just coughing; he was choking. The pollen!-- Kiku made Alfred lean forward and smacked his back several times, clearing his airway. Saliva-covered pollen eventually dribbled out of his mouth, and the coughing subsided in the slightest. Kiku then thought it best to go get a rag to clean it off.

Alfred still looked delirious by the time he came back, and he washed off his face gently, “Alfred-san?” Kiku asked, tentatively, “Are you okay now?”

He didn’t respond, as he laid his head back on the sofa. Alfred coughed once or twice, but no pollen gunk spewed out of his mouth. Kiku took that as a good sign, as he curled up against the arm of the couch and waited, wondering what the situation was like upstairs. It was difficult to not drift off even now, though Kiku was sure he’d gotten most, if not all, of the pollen off their clothes.

Eventually Alfred said, in a quiet croaky voice, “I want to throw up.”

Kiku let out a quiet sigh of relief.“I think there was a bathroom up the hall. First door on the right,” he replied.

Alfred wasted no time in getting up from the couch and staggering off. Kiku could hear his muffled thumping footsteps making their way down the corridor, followed by a door opening… and awful retching sounds. He looked up to distract himself from the noise.

… Wait. 

The ceiling was yellow. An odd, discoloured yellow. Kiku watched as a small speck of yellow drop down from the ceiling and land on his nose, causing him to sneeze. When he rubbed his nose out of instinct, he felt something grainy. He looked up to the ceiling in surprise. Was that pollen? Kiku glanced at the stairs, then at the mountain of blue flowers. If there really was an attic space above the yellow door, there could be two types of flowers instead of one. Could pollen even seep through a ceiling, though?

Another speck floated down and landed on the couch, right beside him. 

He needed a distraction. Kiku stood up and hesitantly made his way upstairs. Alfred wouldn’t miss him; he’d only be gone for a minute or two. He’d only take a quick peek - not enough to make him fall asleep. Just to investigate. If anything bad happened, he could just go back downstairs. 

As he walked, he got increasingly tired, just like before. Kiku dug his fingers into the banister to keep himself from falling asleep and squinted up the rest of the stairs. He could just see the top from here--

He only had a moment to register a bitter smell when he suddenly doubled over coughing, forced to step back. 

Kiku was so distracted that he didn’t even hear Alfred come up the bottom of the stairs behind him, refreshed and feeling a little better by now. It was only when he spoke did he even register him.

“Keeks? What’s wrong?--”

“Look,” Kiku whispered. The entire upstairs - the hallway, the doors, probably inside the bedrooms since Alfred left those doors open - was covered in thick, yellow pollen. Kiku could see the thickest areas were by the hatch and on the pile of flowers, which had completely covered the blue. Those places were much darker than the rest, and the sheer amount made his lungs burst and eyes stream even from here.

Alfred started up the stairs himself to see, coming right up behind Kiku. He then reeled back a little, clapping a hand to his mouth to keep the coughing fit inside. “It- it’s like tear gas!”

Kiku could only shake his head in reply, and they both stumbled back downstairs. It was unfair that both the blue flowers and this new yellow flower were in effect, and Kiku dug his nails into his wrists to keep himself from falling under. Somehow, Kiku managed to make it to the bottom of the stairwell without collapsing. 

But even the living room wasn’t quite so safe as it was before now; discoloured yellow clouds hung in the air near the ceiling, collecting and growing in size. And they had only been gone for a few short minutes! Even now, Kiku could see them float down tauntingly slow, as if they were aware of their fate. At least they were above his head for now--

He jumped when he heard a hard thump behind him. Alfred! Kiku hurried to his collapsed friend’s side, trying to turn him onto his back to breathe better. He wasn’t sure if Alfred was asleep or not, and those sputtering coughs weren’t soothing his nerves. Kiku looked back up at the descending clouds in a panic. He needed to think fast, he needed to find a solution, how are they going to get out of here?--

Water! It was so painfully obvious now. Water had been vital up to this point so far; it kept the effects of the flowers away, it woke them out of dreamlike states! He’d need to summon quite a large amount to abate the pollen, so without further hesitation, Kiku stretched his hands out in front of him. The pollen clouds dipped even lower.

The seconds ticked by. Unfortunately, Kiku had never been very adept at the whole magic concept in the first place, and now that his mind was foggy and numb it made it very hard to concentrate. He just wanted to sleep. Kiku let his hands fall, exhausted. He didn’t notice the pollen clouds dipping lower and lower until he got a mouthful of it.

Kiku dropped onto all fours, putting a sleeved hand up to his mouth to cover the violent coughing fit. He could feel the pollen being choked back up his body and back into his sleeve. No! He had to stay awake, he had to--

He felt a violent splatter of rain fall on his back, and that amount of force was almost enough to make him fall to the floor. However, it made his mind much clearer, and he blinked in surprise. Who made the water? The rug in front of his was damp too, though he didn’t have time to look up at anything else as he hacked up the last bit of pollen out of his lungs.

It was a few minutes before Kiku could actually fall back on his haunches and take a look around. Alfred had his back to the floor, but his arms were outstretched, with droplets of water sliding down them. His eyes were open, but his breathing was ragged, and there was a crack running down one of his glasses’ lenses (most likely from the fall). Most of the furniture was wet, along with the walls, but the pollen was gone!

“Dear Lord, when I wake up from this goddamn dream, I never want to see another flower, or pollen cloud again.” Alfred muttered in a scratchy voice. 

“Agreed.” Kiku muttered in reply, looking back up at the ceiling. The pollen had yet to soak through again, but there were small circles of yellow pollen gathering on the ceiling. Somehow, being on a time limit was even more scary. Kiku sucked in a lungful of fresh, slightly damp air while he could.

“Aww, really?” His attention was brought back to Alfred, who was examining his broken glasses. “I really liked this pair too…”

Kiku raked a hand through his hair. Weirdly, it wasn’t even wet. “We have to get out of here.” They had to work quickly, even though they were both very weak and Alfred couldn’t see. 

Alfred groaned. “Bro, I’m going to die if I make another portal,” he replied exhaustedly, “and I really, really don’t want to die.”

Kiku shook his head. “Out of the house, I mean.” He stood up slightly, leaning against the sofa for support. “I… I can’t die.” He murmured, “I have not made up with Yao yet…”

“You say something?” Alfred asked as he propped himself up on his elbows, looking up at him. 

Kiku shook his head quickly. “No,” Kiku lied. “We just need to move.” Getting onto the sofa was physically exhausting somehow, and he really couldn’t muster the energy to clamber off again.

Eventually, Alfred got up with a groan. He sat up and then stood up with a slight wobble. Before Kiku could ask what he was doing, Alfred crossed over to the front door. “I’m going to see if there are any more flowers outside,” He called out, grasping the door handle and turning it. “It’d be a pain if there were any more of them-- Oh my GOD--” Alfred slammed the door with such vigour it was wonder that the hinges didn’t crack. Kiku’s head shot up immediately.

“Wh-what is it?” He asked, almost fearfully. Kiku’s sense of foreboding returned. “What’s out there?”

Alfred breathed heavily. “There’s… there’s nothing.” He balled his fists. “It’s just like in the pastel world, there’s nothing out there!” 

“‘Nothing’?” Kiku repeated, feeling his stomach drop for the second time. 

“Just…” Alfred took a deep breath, as if he was trying to calm down, but he still had that same nervous energy around him. “Nothing. We’re -- we’re gonna have to think of another plan. Something that doesn’t involve portals, or nothingness, or flowers, or sleeping, or--”

“Alfred-kun!” Kiku interrupted. Perhaps it was better to use the friendlier honorific in Alfred’s agitated state. “We -- we still have time.” Even so, he couldn’t help glancing at the ceiling again, which was discoloured again, though less extreme before.

“Kiku, what can we do? Neither of us are in a state to make another portal, and we can’t escape outside either.” Alfred slumped and slid down the door. “We’re stuck.”

… Not necessarily, Kiku thought. He thought about the places they explored: the kitchen, the living room, the upstairs… What other areas could a house have? “Um-- does this house have a basement? That could buy us some more time.” Kiku stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, as if trying to burn a hole in it. He was thinking hard. “We might be able to rest there, and then make our portal. Or there might be tools down there -- tools we can use to seal ourselves from the pollen.”

Alfred perked up immediately, “Maybe…” He tapped his chin in thought, then a smile -- finally, Alfred didn’t look complete without a smile -- grew on his face as he pushed off the door towards the hallway. “I’m gonna go check!” He opened a door, then closed it in confusion. “You wanna help me look?” He asked, motioning towards the other side of doors. 

Kiku nodded, and he forced his limbs to move again. It wasn’t so much of an effort as it was before, but he still had that lingering feeling of tiredness weighing down the back of his mind. It was when he entered the hallway did he realize just how many doors were in this hallway. He’d explored a good portion of them already, but Kiku had closed the doors after him. 

What was probably only a few minutes felt like hours what with all this repetitive door-opening and sluggish movements. Eventually he found a door with stone steps that lead down into darkness. Kiku felt around for a light switch, but there was none. “Alfred-san? I found the basement.”

Alfred closed his own door, turning to Kiku in excitement. “Good job Keeks!” Alfred hurried back down the corridor and looked inside. He then frowned. “...The stairs weren’t stone before. They were wood.”

“There’s no lightswitch either.” Kiku told him. 

His companion let out a frustrated sigh. “Guess we’re gonna have to get our own then…”

With a small nod, Kiku managed to bring to life another orb. This one was significantly dimmer though, and it gave the basement a bit of a creepy look. He floated it down the stairs slowly, following Alfred, who seemed to be taking particular care that the next step in front of him was always there.

When at last they made it to the bottom, Kiku was pleased to find a lightswitch waiting for them at the bottom. Alfred smacked it on quick, illuminating the room. Thank goodness nothing dangerous was waiting for them down there too. Just a bunch of storage boxes, rugs, old toys, clothes, and a closet in the corner.

Alfred looked excited to be down here, and rushed over to this closet, “We didn’t have any tents, once upon a time, because Da-- Arthur didn’t like camping a whole lot.” He pulled out a long, thin mattress, laying it on a cleared part of the floor, “But he let me and Mattie sleep in the basement so we could pretend to camp! We’d bring dinner down here, make shadows with flashlights, pretend the ceiling above was the stars…” He smiled fondly.

Kiku smiled a little too. “I never exactly went camping, but Yao-san and I did used to sit on the front steps and stargaze. We even went to an annual star festival.” He looked up and tried to imagine stars above all those layers and layers of pollen… He shivered.

Alfred flopped backwards on the mattress, “...Is it just me, or is this place a lot warmer than the other two… worlds, I guess?”

“It must be dawn,” he reasoned, sitting next to Alfred. “The ground’s warming up.”

Kicking his legs up, Alfred sat back up, “I’m gonna try and make my glasses again.” He announced, as he shook out his arms to loosen them.

Kiku nodded, remaining silent, then craned his neck up at the ceiling. How long would it be until the whole ground floor was covered in pollen? Hopefully they would have enough time until then…  
____________________________________________________________________

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Fifteen minutes and four unsuccessful attempts later, Kiku was now slumped against the wall and fiddling with his nails obsessively while Alfred was still trying to make his glasses, and growing more and more frustrated as he did so. “That’s way too strong!” He tossed this new pair away behind him, along with the other failed attempts. 

Kiku looked up when he heard Alfred flop back against the mattress again, breathing out a groan of frustration. “It’s hopeless. I’ll have to wander this place blind forever.”

“No you won’t.” He said automatically, “Just keep trying. It was better than your other tries anyway.”

Alfred slowly sat back up, rubbing his head, “Hey, Kiku? Can you do me a favour real quick?”

“...Maybe.”

He grinned nervously, “Can you make a bowl and a bandanna?”

“A bowl and a bandanna?” Kiku echoed, “Why would you need those things?”

“Just-- just make them. I’ll explain in a moment.” Alfred told him.

He squinted suspiciously, “Alfred… you’re not thinking of going back up there are you?” Hopefully he wasn’t. Who knows what the situation would be like. They were nearly killed the first time!

Alfred sighed, and looked up to the stairs towards the door, “...Keeks, I need my glasses.”

“Then I will go.” He decided, “You won’t even be able to see them through the haze. And don’t call me Keeks.”

“But--” Alfred looked like he was going to protest a moment, before sighing, “...Fine.”

Kiku nodded triumphantly, and made his way back up the stone steps. The door had tiny pollen specks hovering around it, though thankfully most of it was lying on the other side of the door, not inside… yet.

But the pollen was beginning to creep around the sides, so without further hesitation Kiku wrenched the door open and slipped out, shutting it behind him.

It was utter chaos out there. The amount of pollen was completely overwhelming, skewering his vision, and weighting his eyes down. Kiku hastily put his jacket up to his face, which blocked out the pollen somewhat, and began to make his way down the corridor to the living room. That was where Alfred had left his glasses last.

The living room was just a huge mass of swirling yellow; the pollen had leached through everything. Kiku scoured the floor for any hint of the spectacles in the thick haze. His eyes were beginning to stream again, and he made himself breathe shallowly. When-- there!

A tiny glint of light bounced off the lense of Alfred’s glasses, half submerged in the pollen on the floor. Kiku snatched it up quickly, and turned back to the hallway and… wait. Which one was the basement door again?

It was at least halfway down the corridor, so he began to stumble blindly through there. Just when he was feeling as though he was about to collapse, one of the door handles started turning. 

“Keeks?--”

Alfred barely had time to get the sentence out before Kiku was pushing past him, and back into the basement. Then shut the door behind him with a soft bang. Kiku slid down the door, coughing and spluttering and trying hard just to breathe for a moment, “So-” He coughed, “Sorry for t-touching you… Alfred… san…” 

“No worries!” His companion scrambled over to collect his friend in a huge hug, which didn’t help his bursting lungs, “You’re honestly the best person ever, you know that?” Alfred squeezed Kiku a little tighter on having his own minor coughing fit, then hastily backed away, “Ohh-- Sorry…”

Kiku waved a hand to dismiss it, and brought out Alfred’s glasses, “I-It’s fine. I didn’t-” He coughed again, “Didn’t do much.”

Alfred grimaced a little upon seeing his damaged glasses. There was a crack running through the left lense, and the thing was caked in pollen. He gingerly took the poor object, almost flinching when the right lense fell out altogether. Fortunately he caught it before it could shatter, “Hoo boy. Alright.” He muttered, “You want some water or anything?”

“I - I--” Kiku bent double, his hand over his mouth with the sudden violence of his hacking. His lungs were beginning to hurt now. He vaguely wondered why he hadn’t recovered yet -- until he saw the bright yellow mist sneaking its way underneath the door. Time was running out.

“... Damn it, time to go!” Kiku felt himself being hauled up by Alfred, then rushed downstairs. He all but collapsed on the mattress, while Alfred fell to his knees, bringing up his glasses, “Hold on real quick, I’m gonna… try and fix… you get the portal ready…”

While Alfred fiddled around with his glasses, Kiku knelt up himself, bracing a hand on his thumping heart for a moment. Most of the coughing had subsided, thank goodness. Without further hesitation, he brought his hands in front of him and tried for a portal by himself.

Kiku tried and tried. Portal’s were taxing work, especially by himself. Large sparks produced from his fingertips, but that was all. Kiku swore to himself and concentrated harder.

He heard a small snapping sound, then a whoop of joy, “You good, Keeks?”

Kiku could only shake his head, feeling worse than useless, “I cannot… do it…”

“Okay, just a moment--” Kiku saw yellow dust fall from the glasses as Alfred hastily brushed it off, then sealed up the crack within a trice. He couldn’t help but feel a twang of jealousy at his adeptness at magic within a few mere hours.

“There! Ready now!” Alfred put his glasses back onto his nose -- finally his face looked complete, “Let’s go somewhere with actual water this time, yeah?” His hands met Kiku’s, and together, their energy surged. With another echoing BANG that nearly blew the two of them back, their portal sprung into existence. This time a dark, navy blue.

Kiku wasted no time in slamming his hand onto the new portal as Alfred did the same. The whole world lit up… and actually stayed bright. Blearily, Kiku opened his eyes, only to snap them shut again at the harsh glare of a new sun. He was lying on something… hard. He smelled chlorine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, and welcome to Sleeping Blue!
> 
> This story is based on an RP that a friend (RedPen77) and I have worked on for a long time! In fact, we're actually co-writing this story together! We basically have all the plot written down, so now all we have to do is transfer it to an actual, legitimate book!
> 
> We don't really have a set publishing schedule, but we will try to publish chapters as soon as they are ready! We'd love any criticism you have for this story, and we thank you for reading this story!


	5. Bare Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the beach isn't quite the vacation it presents.

The first thing to register when Alfred landed in this new world, was the sudden sharp smell of chlorine. His nose wrinkled automatically, and he tried to bring a hand up to his eyes. It was warm here,  _ really  _ warm. The sun was also trying to laser through his eyelids.

Although he could hear Kiku shuffling around next to him, he made no attempt to get up quite yet. Another headache was splitting his head in two, and that chlorine smell wasn’t helping much. Or the hard, hard surface he was laying on.

“God, that stinks.” He muttered to himself.

Eventually, he did open his eyes, inky black dots swimming around in his vision, and struggled upwards. Alfred realized that he was laying on a sunbed with a box at the end and that chlorine smell was coming from a lake just in front of him, even though it looked natural enough. There was no house, no man-made objects, and best of all,  _ no flowers of any kind so far! _

Alfred gave a sigh of relief, and flopped back down on the sunbed, “You know what, I’m gonna lay here for a while.”

“Don’t sleep,” Kiku replied, sitting up himself by this time. Alfred grunted in reply to show he heard him, and he brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the sunlight.

“Why is it so damn  _ bright?”  _ He whined. “Where’s that pastel moon from before?” At least the headache was receding quicker. Alfred cracked an eye open, stretching his legs out to tap his feet against the box at the end of his sunbed. Strange thing to have. “What’re these? Lotions?”

“I don’t… know…” Kiku sounded uncertain, “Do you think it’s safe to open? I really don’t think we should be playing around with this stuff… There might even be a flower in that.”

Alfred shrugged and sat up, crawling to the end of the bed to investigate. “Don’t know until we try, right?” He opened the box and promptly sneezed. Red dust fluttered around in a small  _ poof _ around him, and Alfred hastily leaned back lest it made him sleepy… but it didn’t really do anything other than made his eyes itch. “...I think we found our new flower.”

He dug around in his box a little longer and brought up a Tudor Rose. He shook the flower a distance away, and more glittery dust swirled down, “Arthur had a bunch of these at his shop!” Alfred remembered, then frowned, “...But they didn’t have nearly as much pollen. And the pollen wasn’t all glittery either.” He dropped the flower and took a look around. There seemed to be crates like these at the end of every sunbed, of which there were about seven or eight.

Alfred sat up again, glancing around. Now that he looked around more, this place was beginning to look like a miniature paradise. The lake in front of the sunbeds looked clean and fresh; the sand was white and grainy; all around them stood a forest. But this wasn’t a dark and menacing forest like before. More like… a friendly wood. He grinned. “At least we have a beach now. May as well relax!” Alfred pulled off his bomber jacket and dropped it on his sunbed. His shirt soon followed. “This world might not be so bad after all!” They could stay here until someone found them!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kiku cringing slightly at all the flesh he was showing, and muttered something that sounded a lot like, “Westerners…” Alfred had to laugh.

Not bothering to take off his trousers (it won’t get wet, right?), he kicked his shoes off and was about to jump in the water when he froze. Alfred took a closer look at the water. It wasn’t murky near the edge, but he could have  _ sworn  _ he saw something in the middle. A dark shadow, or shape of some sort. Alfred rubbed his eyes, and it was gone.

Okay… that was weird. Alfred shook his head. He was probably imagining things. And whatever it was he was gone now. He took a running jump, and splashed straight into the water, kicking up a spray. The water was a little warmer than he was accustomed to, but that was okay. Alfred turned to Kiku, treading water. “Come on, man! Join me!”

Kiku, who had appeared to have conjured some paper and a pencil out of thin air, and was balancing it against his knees on the sunbed, shook his head, “No thank you.” He reached for his pencil without looking and got a handful of red dust. Alfred heard him sigh irritably, and he grinned sheepishly. He may have spread the dust a bit... everywhere.

Alfred sank back into the water until only his eyes were above, and scanned the lake, bored. Then almost sucked water; the thing was back. He turned to face it-- and it disappeared  _ again.  _ Alfred blew out bubbles in frustration and looked away again.

_ There!  _ No, wait…  _ there!  _ The shadow seemed to only want to stay in his peripheral vision, which was annoying. Every time Alfred faced it head-on, it vanished. Uneasy, he swam away from the center of the lake, “Hey Kiku? Could you look in the lake for me-- Kiku?”

… Surely the sun was playing tricks on his eyes. It  _ had  _ to be. Because Alfred  _ knew  _ Kiku had just been sitting on the sunbed, pencil and paper in hand, drawing. Yet he wasn’t there anymore, “Kiku!”

Alfred yelped as he tripped on something underwater, bringing him down. The water stung his eyes and made him hiss. Alfred rubbed at his eyes quickly, blinking them open again. Whatever he had touched felt… slimy. Ew. He shivered and quickly crawled out of the lake. Eugh. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to swim after all. 

“--Alfred-san? Where  _ are  _ you?” He perked up at Kiku’s voice, and his head whipped to the direction it had come from. But… there was still no Kiku. Not anywhere. Though Alfred could see tracks in the sand where he’d been standing.

“Keeks!” He called again, “Where are  _ you?!  _ Seriously man, I can’t see you anywhere…”

“I’m right by the lake.” Kiku answered, this time right in front of him, “In full view… but I can’t see you either.”

“I’m right… here…” His voice trailed off slightly, and Alfred looked around confusedly. The lake seemed to ripple by itself. “You didn’t turn invisible, did you? Oh-- hey, I think there’s something else here too…” The shadow had appeared briefly in the water again, then disappeared so quick Alfred wasn’t sure if he just imagined it.

“Huh? What do you mean? There’s nothing  _ here  _ Alfred-san.”

“I saw something in the lake though!” He protested, stubbornly, then sighed. Maybe he  _ was  _ just imagining things, “Okay, fine, there’s nothing. But why can’t we see each other?”

“I don’t--” Kiku cut himself off suddenly, and Alfred turned around to look at where the voice was coming from,  _ “ _ W-Wait! I can see you now!”

“Huh? How?!” Alfred scoured around, “I still can’t see you!”

“But… I’m standing right next to you…”

He gave a frustrated huff. How could Kiku see him now and Alfred couldn’t? And that  _ thing  _ in the water appeared to be zig-zagging closer and closer to the shallows, “Ugh, this is so stupid! Honestly, this world can suck my--” 

The realization then hit him like a brick wall. “...Those freaking flowers.” The pollen dust. He inhaled a bunch of it! And then Kiku accidentally brushed against it too! Alfred peered at himself, but he couldn’t see a speck of pollen on him anywhere. It must have all come off when he went swimming.

“The  _ pollen!”  _ Kiku’s voice echoed his thoughts, “Hold on--”

It was  _ weird  _ to see Kiku suddenly materializing right next to him. He was now almost two feet from his face, and it was a relief to see him. Although… “I, uh…” He squinted at his companion. He seemed to be draped in some sort of transparent shadow, “I can’t see you all that well.” Alfred confessed, “I think some of it might be in my system.”

The lake gave another ripple as he talked, and his eyes automatically slid over to it. The shadow in the lake, however, didn’t disappear. It hovered just below the surface of the water, still indistinguishable, “Okay… that thing’s not my imagination, right?”

Kiku followed his gaze, staring out at the water, “...No. You’re right; there is something here.” He then frowned, “...Do you think it’s hostile? You were swimming with it earlier…”

Alfred laughed nervously, “I… uh. I don’t know. It might be?” He paused, “...Crazy idea, but could we throw the pollen boxes out at the creature? So it can’t see us?”

“I don’t think that will work. I could still see you even when I had dust on me.”

“Oh yeah…” Still. That shadow wasn’t calming his nerves at all. Alfred looked around the area, “Well… we may as well move on. There’s nothing really to do here, and that thing--”

Before he could even finish his sentence, the creatures darted with impossible speed up and out of the water. It launched through the air towards them, screeching an unholy sound before landing on all fours. They both scrambled back (at least, Alfred assumed Kiku did the same), turning to stare at the creature. 

But what was frustrating was, he still couldn’t get a good look at it. She -- like Kiku -- was draped in an enormous black shadow, but unlike Kiku, she was more solid. Alfred could tell that it was a woman; judging by the long and thin body, and long scraggly hair. He stepped back, all but expecting whatever it was to attack -- when it suddenly bowed down. Harmless.

Kiku, however, had a much different reaction to its harmless behavior. He gave a yelp and jumped backward like he’d been shocked, then backed up another couple of steps, “Alfred-san! Get away from that!”

“Dude, it’s just a woman, don’t be rude,” Alfred whispered back. This was… uncharacteristic for Kiku. Usually, he was so calm and collected. And the  _ last  _ thing Kiku was, was rude. Still, maybe Kiku’s vision was acting weirder than his. Yeah, that must have been it. If Kiku could see better, he’d see that this river-woman was harmless!

Kiku sputtered in shock. “ _ Just _ a woman?--” 

And then, all of a sudden, the woman stood and grabbed Alfred by the arm, the closer of the two. The woman tried to pull Alfred closer, but he stood his ground, trying to pull his arm away from her clawed grip. Yeah,  _ now _ it was getting weird. Was the woman trying to be distracting or something? “Um…” He reached for the woman’s hand. “Ahah, ma’am, I appreciate the gesture, but…” He tried prying the woman’s hand from his arm finger by finger, but that just prompted her to grab his hand instead. “No-- Could you let go?” 

“Alfred-san…” Kiku warned lowly. Alfred couldn’t see this, but he was watching this all with narrowed eyes. “She has  _ sharp teeth, _ you need to get away  _ now. _ ” 

The woman turned to Kiku, curious, but quickly lost interest. Alfred saw her head tilt up as if she was staring at his face now. Alfred couldn’t  _ see  _ any sharp teeth… but he could’ve  _ sworn _ he heard a soft hiss coming from her. The woman was giving him bad vibes. “Look,” he started, a lump forming in his throat, “you’re making my friend uncomfortable, and--  _ Oh, _ ” he gulped when the woman’s other hand went up to caress his face, seemingly gentle but dangerously close to his eyes. “ _ Ma’am. _ ” 

The creature’s hand went slightly down, ominously near his throat. A finger traced a line down his cheek and under his jaw, but it felt like a claw. Suddenly, for the briefest of seconds, the shadows surrounding the woman completely vanished -- 

\-- And in its place, a horrible monster stood. It had scaly skin, vacant black eyes, straw-like hair, sinewy shoulders, and the needle-like teeth Kiku was talking about. A gasp escaped his throat, and he took a step back in shock.

The next thing he knew, pain dug deep in his left shoulder. Alfred was barely aware of the bite; he was barely aware of his surroundings for the blinding pain, in fact, and the shock didn’t wear off until he was suddenly in the water. Unfortunately, he was dragged down before he could hear the full of Kiku’s shout.

His world sharpened underwater -- and so did the pain. Not only was his shoulder bleeding out, but his eyes burned from the chlorinated water and he couldn’t breathe. Alfred helplessly watched bubbles float towards the surface, his chest constricting from lack of air and panic. Red ebbed towards his head and around the creature’s face. He needed to get  _ out-- _

A sudden, forceful jet of water slammed into the both of them. The creature unclamped its jaws in shock, shrieking underwater before darting away. The jet spun Alfred away as well, which Alfred was grateful for, but his disoriented mind and begging lungs made him breathe in water in all the confusion. His body spasmed in an attempt to redo its mistake, but it was too late. His vision grew steadily dark. 

Alfred was barely aware of something wrapping around his waist, and then something feebly grabbing his ankle before letting go. And then somehow he was horizontal, his head lightly bumping into something solid. Something tried to push him up by his shoulders. A desperate smack to his back, and then the sudden feeling of falling back caused him to shudder and cough up water. Kiku’s voice became a bit clearer, albeit still watery. Alfred coughed some more, feeling a bit better. 

Then Kiku’s quietly soothing voice turned panicked. Something brushed against his leg, and out of fear and instinct, he kicked up. His foot didn’t go far up, but it was enough: Alfred could hear the piercing shriek the creature made before a loud splash. 

Then he was being dragged along the beach again, presumably by Kiku. Some of Alfred’s vision was beginning to come back to him, though the world was blurry due to the stabbing pain in his shoulder. He reached a hand up to touch the wound -- and it came away bright red.

“Shh, shh,” Kiku whispered, guiding Alfred’s hand away. “You’re going to be…” 

Alfred couldn’t hear the rest of what Kiku said because his vantage point tilted dramatically. Then he was on a sunbed. “Are you okay?” Kiku asked, in a muffled voice.

“I’m--” Was there any point in saying he was fine? He looked down at his bitten shoulder and gasped. Somehow it seemed much worse looking at it. The wound was bright red and bleeding badly from the huge teeth marks in it. Alfred quickly squeezed his eyes shut, accidentally squeezing Kiku’s hand as he breathed heavily, “ _ God--” _

Kiku’s hand was suddenly wrenched away from him, and Alfred could hear an ear-splitting shriek. The creature was back. Before he knew it, it had actually managed to pin Kiku down on the sand. Despite Kiku’s best attempts, its teeth were dangerously near his throat.

_ He had to do something.  _ Mustering up all the strength he had, Alfred struggled to rise before the pain became unbearable. At least now he still had some adrenaline left in him, evidenced by his shoulder and arm quickly becoming numb. Taking a ratty breath, Alfred willed for something,  _ anything,  _ to take out that creature. His good arm swung down, and in a flash, what could only be described as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the creature. It gave a scream of pain and jumped off Kiku. Alfred could see swollen and shiny flesh, before he couldn’t stand up any longer, and collapsed onto the sand. 

He wasn’t completely out of it yet; Alfred’s hearing came and went in small waves, as did his sight. He could hear the struggles of a fight, but with his head was tilted towards the lake, he was unable to see who was winning. Alfred couldn’t even lift his head. And, what with how much pain his shoulder was in, didn’t care too much presently. Tiny grains of sand got stuck in the teeth marks, making his wound burn and sting and the rest of his arm was numb.

Eventually, he balled his hands into fists. Alfred  _ hated  _ lying here all helpless while Kiku tried to keep the creature away from him, and it sounded like the fight was ongoing  _ still _ . He waited until the pain receded somewhat, and his vision and hearing were better, before moving again. Alfred was able to tilt his head up slightly (without him becoming too dizzy), and brought his good arm in front of him to point at the blurry outline of the creature.

He knew it had worked from the enormous flash of light that occurred next, and the way it shrieked in pain like last time. Unlike last time, however, Alfred couldn’t keep his head up to see the results. He was too weak, too tired, and he slumped in the sand.

* * *

When he next came to, the first thing Alfred registered was Kiku’s voice. His entire body relaxed on hearing it, though his shoulder was still searing with pain and his arm aching all over. Alfred groaned slightly, a splitting headache making his skull pound and his hands shake when he brought his good arm up to rub at his head, “... Tell me the damn things dead.” He croaked.

“Alfred-san, you’re awake.” The relief in Kiku’s voice was unmistakable, and in any other situation, Alfred would grin. Now, however, his injuries were more weighing on his mind. “I can’t be sure if the creature is dead quite yet. Some of the pollen got over it. Lie still.”

Kiku sounded so commanding and Alfred was so tired, he let his hand fall beside him. It was all he could do not to just escape back to sleep. Sleep was nice, sleep wasn’t painful… He could feel himself dropping off. The pain in his shoulder was becoming less and less… Alfred let out a sigh. Soon the pain had completely gone.

Wait. The pain was  _ gone.  _ The feeling in his arm was coming back too, no longer so numb and weighted down. Alfred opened his eyes again and looked down at his shoulder. It looked stiff and sore, and it was a shiny red color… but it didn’t  _ hurt.  _

His vision was also back, though a little blurry since he’d taken his glasses off. Alfred looked at Kiku, who was laying back on the sand beside the sunbed a bit, panting.

“Did… did you just…?” 

“I healed your shoulder.” Kiku answered for him, rubbing his temples, “Hopefully that will be a little better…”

Alfred grinned. He so wanted to pick Kiku up in a hug, but he probably wouldn’t like that too much. So he settled for a laugh instead, sitting up on his bed. “Dude, that’s awesome! We should rest a bit now though…”

Kiku agreed all too readily with a fervent nod, and he lay down on a sunbed of his own. Alfred however, feeling perfectly fine with the lingering effects of his headache wearing off, stood up to cross the beach to where he’d discarded his clothes. Thankfully he’d left them all in relatively the same place, and quickly slipped his shirt and shoes back on. Then he draped his jacket over his arm and returned to Kiku.

“Need anything?” Alfred asked as a jug of lemonade fell with a clunk onto the sunbed. The figurative sun (and getting beaten up, he supposed) had made him thirsty, and he’d downed half of it in five seconds flat.

“Just some water, please,” Kiku mumbled back, gingerly sitting up and rubbing his head. Not a moment later, there was another jug, this time of water, in front of him. Alfred grinned. He was getting  _ good  _ at this.

“Tell me if the water tastes alright.” Alfred said, as he finished off his lemonade, “It might taste like lemons. Y’know, from the lemonade.”

If it did taste like lemons, there was hardly any complaints, as Kiku quickly drank its contents. Then the both of them sat for a moment, staring out at the water and resting. Alfred let his eyes slide closed…

He was abruptly woken out of his half-sleeping state by a small nudge and a whisper, “Alfred-san…”

“Huh?” He asked, blinking a couple of times. Before he saw it; large footprints in the sand coming steadily towards them, “... You’ve got to be kidding me. The thing’s  _ still _ alive? _ ” _

Alfred looked at Kiku with a grimace. He did not look ready for another fight. If anything he looked worse than Alfred, what with the healing session. Alfred was up and ready, Kiku was not. 

“Don’t move. I got this one,” he said. If that creature saw that Kiku was now the weak one, he’d be the one attacked. Alfred circled around the pool chair, and picked up the wooden box, discreetly opening the lid.

As predicted, a rose was inside. He took care picking up the rose, being careful not to spill any dust on himself. The creature crept closer; he could tell by the tracks in the sand. Right now it only had eyes for him. That was good; Kiku would be kept out of danger.

When Alfred deemed it close enough, in one swift movement he crushed the rose in his hand and punched the creature hard. It gave a wail, it’s jaw and chest covered with the scattered pollen. For a brief moment, the creature was visible from the pollen covering it. Unfortunately, the pollen disappeared on the creature completely, the invisibility taking effect. 

… Well. He didn’t think too far on this one. As Alfred tried to quickly shake the remains of the dust on his hand, the creature gave another wail -- this time an angry one -- and tackled him to the ground. Alfred fell back hard onto the sand, held down by what looked like nothing. He felt their limbs entangle as he tried to push off the creature. Even if he couldn’t see it, Alfred could feel its hot breath close to his newly-healed shoulder.

“Kiku!” Alfred shouted desperately, “Make the portal!”

As they scuffled, more and more of the pollen was being shaken off the creature. It was slowly becoming easier to see. Some of its face was visible by now, and chest and  _ hands.  _ It certainly made the fight easier for Alfred and -- was it possible? -- harder for the creature. The dust was being shaken off onto  _ him  _ after all, making Alfred all the more difficult to see.

Maybe the creature knew this too. Maybe it knew it was slowly losing the fight, when it suddenly leaped off Alfred, vaulting off his chest -- but not before digging its claws in. He wheezed for a moment, his eyes following the creature. It had lost interest in him completely in favor of a new target:  _ Kiku! _

Alfred scrambled up, sand flying everywhere. “Keeks, watch out!--”

Kiku looked up, but just a second too late. The creature flew through the air and tackled him, launching Kiku backward over the sunbed. Alfred couldn’t quite see what happened next, as his view was blocked by the pool chair, but the next thing he knew the creature was flying over Kiku, howling. Kiku must have at least kicked the thing. It turned mid-air, eyes locked back onto Kiku almost at once. This time when it struck, the creature was able to successfully pin Kiku down.

“No!” Alfred skidded across the sand, a baseball bat materializing in his hands. Only parts of the creature were visible, but nonetheless, he took quick aim and struck the creature as hard as he could, hoping viciously that it was on the burn marks his lightning had previously given it. The creature gave another shriek as it rolled off Kiku and onto the sand. Alfred quickly reached a pollen-stained hand out to Kiku.

“C’mon, get the portal ready. I’ll protect you!”  _ Like a hero should! _

Kiku nodded, and mumbled out a reply, scrambling up and away from the creature on his own. …Right. Of course Kiku couldn’t reach for him, they couldn’t see each other. Bringing his hand back up to the bat, Alfred watched the parts of the creature he could see advancing closer. Alfred tightened his grip.  _ He’d strike it when it’s closer, he’d strike it when it’s closer… _

The light of a portal popping into existence, which momentarily distracted him. When he refocused on the task at hand, he swung too early, and the creature dodged the bat easily. It slammed into him and pushed Alfred to the ground, snarling, and the bat rolled away from him in the sand.  _ No!  _ He reached out a hand to try and grab it, but sharp nails dug into his arm. 

“Alfred-san!”

His head whipped around at the mention of his name, and, apparently, so did the creature. Kiku! He’d grabbed the bat, swinging directly at the creature’s head. With a sickening  _ crunch,  _ it connected. The creature gave an almighty screech, and Alfred had to cover his ears quickly. So did Kiku, the bat slipping out of his hands.

At least with the creature weakened, he was able to successfully kick it off him. Alfred rolled over, retrieving his bat, “Kiku! Let’s finish it together!”

He barely had time to register his nod in reply, because the creature was back up. Almost all of the dust had been shaken off it, revealing a swollen, shiny back, several black bruises on its body, and a face red in fury. The creature bared its teeth and ran forwards at Kiku; the one without a weapon.

“Oh no you don’t you son of a--” Alfred swung the bat, and it connected. It wasn’t as much of a direct hit as Kiku’s, but it was enough to  _ hurt.  _ The creature hissed and turned on him, swiping a clawed hand at his arm. The scratch ripped right through his shirt. Alfred winced in pain.

Then the creature staggered away from him, as Kiku kicked it hard in the gut. Something long and silver fell into his hands, and Alfred turned his gaze to look at it. A  _ sword.  _ Kiku was holding a  _ sword.  _ The creature backed up and even seemed to balk at the sight of a possibly fatal weapon. Alfred grinned. Now it had no chance!

Evidently, Kiku knew how to use the sword too, as they both took a leap forward. The creature dodged around Alfred to the side, trying to avoid Kiku altogether, and making another break for one of the boxes full of flowers. Alfred stuck his leg out and tripped it over, clubbing it around the head for good measure as it fell. Kiku made a stab for its chest, but the creature rolled to avoid it and the blade hit the sand instead. 

Alfred watched as it scrambled away from the both of them, getting to its feet again. He brought his bat back up quickly, as did Kiku with his sword. For a minute they just circled; sizing each other up; deciding when to attack next. The creature was the first one to make a move, as it gave an almighty swipe towards Kiku. He stepped to the side quickly and brought the sword down to slash at its side. A gnash tore open in the creature’s side, and it howled, giving another swipe. From Alfred’s line of view, he could easily see that… it wasn’t bleeding at all. Instead, grey dust crumbled out, mingling with the sand.

Alfred advanced around the back of the creature and hit it hard around the back of the head. It grunted, and turned around to claw Alfred back--

The blade stopped just short of his nose. He gave a hasty step back, and the creature could only stare at him, the sword sticking out of its chest. A weak wail escaped its lips before the creature crumbled. Quite literally; it turned to grey dust, which fell to the sand. Alfred looked up at Kiku, who was panting hard.

Then Kiku withdrew his sword, shaking off the dust as best he could. Alfred gave a short laugh.

“Wow… we did it.” He said, through his own heavy breathing, “I didn’t know you could use a sword.”

“It’s a Katana, actually.” Kiku looked down at the grey dust at their feet, “One of my childhood friends talked me into taking classes… should we leave?”

Alfred kicked the grey dust slightly, “Let’s rest a bit first. I’m not sure if I can make a portal right now.” Now the adrenaline was wearing off, that scratch on his arm was beginning to sting a bit. He used his other arm to adjust his glasses, letting the bat fall to the ground.

Kiku dropped his own sword in the dust, and the both of them sat on a sunbed to recover. Alfred used his last remaining strength to conjure up some more water (their last jug having been upturned in the fight), before flopping back.

“Phew… I have a feeling these dream worlds are  _ trying  _ to do us in.” Alfred muttered, covering his eyes with his hand.

“Maybe… or we just have really dangerous imaginations.” Kiku replied, a little faintly.

“You okay?” He sat up a bit to look at Kiku, but his face remained as impassive as ever. Well, that wasn’t completely true. In fact, if he looked closely Kiku looked a bit shocked. Overwhelmed, maybe. And something else he couldn’t quite place. Alfred redirected his gaze quickly though, as Kiku turned back to look at him.

“Yes, I’m fine… why do you ask?”

Alfred gave a noncommittal shrug, “You sounded weird for a second.”

There were a few more minutes of silence, where all either of them did was stare out at the water, and occasionally taking a drink. Alfred didn’t know what Kiku was thinking, but he himself was thinking of back home. The real world. How long would it be before someone found them? Surely it would be close to morning by now… surely someone would find them soon… as Kiku said, they weren’t very well concealed. But it had taken themselves half an hour to find those flowers. Maybe nobody would find them for ages… maybe even days. Alfred suddenly realized how few people would come looking for him. Most of his friends were far-spread. He could get along with people, sure, but when it came to friends he was severely lacking.

Then what about Kiku? Alfred didn’t know a lot about him; Kiku made an effort to keep away from people in general, actually. Alfred vaguely wondered why that was… in any case, it was bad for them. Though maybe Kiku had a family? Kiku rarely talked about them, but from what he could remember, they were pretty far away. How long would they take to come looking for them? Alfred suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of dread. What if no one came looking for them, and they were doomed to sleep forever?

It was such a terrifying thought that Alfred decided it was time for a distraction, “So… feel up to that portal?”

Kiku only nodded and followed him out into a clear patch of sand next to the water. Alfred turned around, to face him.

“You ready?”

Kiku nodded again, “I am.”

The air was slightly somber as the portal sprung into existence. This time, it was a nice, light green, fern color. He looked at Kiku, who looked back, and without saying a single word, they both put their hands on the new portal. 


	6. Isolated Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the next area is frustrating and stirs up the past.

Kiku’s feet hit the solid ground with significantly more force than he expected. He staggered backward into something solid, collapsing into it. Taking a deep breath, Kiku took a look around. He couldn’t see Alfred at first, which left a feeling of panic, but after his eyes adjusted to their new light he found Alfred was still here and was lying adjacent to him. Kiku allowed himself a sigh of relief. 

It seemed as though the world hadn’t even deigned to give them a forest this time. Instead, they were sitting on what appeared to be a ring of large, flattish rocks standing like tall pillars. There was no foliage, no nature of any kind, apart from the springy grass underneath them. Like the lagoon world, it too was very bright. But not because of the sun; there wasn’t even any source of light. It quickly dawned upon Kiku that they were on a floating island. Beyond the pillars were about three or four meters of more grass, before the ground dropped off entirely.

It was just them, the island, and empty space.

He huffed a small sigh and leaned back against the pillar. Alfred was quickly coming to, groaning as he sat up and straightened his glasses on his nose.

“Ughh… where are we now?” He asked sluggishly. 

Kiku opened his mouth to answer (but how would he have answered? He didn’t even know where they were now) but closed it when he saw Alfred stumble into a standing position and peek around a rock pillar. Unsurprisingly, he backed away from the edge in a hurry. 

“Yeah, okay. More places we can fall to our death. Absolutely lovely.” Alfred took in a deep breath. “Alright. Great. I’d like to say that there are no flowers at least, but I’m not going to jinx it.”

Kiku didn’t bother to point out that he just did, and instead he curled into a ball against the pillar. He couldn’t blame Alfred’s prickly mood. These worlds were getting annoying really fast. It really felt like they were making no progress at all. But if the optimist of the two was running out of patience… 

“You know what?” Alfred continued, “Let’s just sit here until we can make another damn portal. Don’t move, don’t speak, don’t bring  _ whatever _ to try and kill us. I’d like not to die please!” He shouted into the empty air. Alfred then flopped to the ground, staring pensively up at the not-sky.

Kiku looked at Alfred reflectively. It probably wasn’t the best to engage with him at this moment, though he completely understood where he was coming from. Did Arthur tell him about this? Kiku knew Arthur, just a little. Enough to know that his relationship with Alfred was rocky at best, and deeply flawed at worst. Would Arthur be that spiteful to not warn Alfred about this? Unless he never knew… That’s right! Alfred  _ specifically _ said that he never asked Arthur about any of this! Kiku felt another twinge of annoyance.

Arthur would be the only one to know what they were looking for and where they were. But if Alfred never told him, all hope was lost. They would simply have to wait until some other person found them, and how long would that take? Would they even contact them? Surely the sun was rising soon…

Kiku directed his gaze to the top of the pillar and felt another stab of irritation. More flowers. He hadn’t given the pillars much thought before, but at the top of them was a thick weave of thorny vines. Protected by the thorns were yellow flowers. If Kiku breathed in deeply, he could detect a sweet, honey-like smell coming from them. On top of that, quite literally, were midnight blue sleeping flowers. Sitting on top of the pillar, waving tauntingly at him anytime there was a breeze. 

A small yelp pulled Kiku out of his thoughts. Alfred was sitting up again, and rubbing his back to the best of his ability. He was also frowning like someone had insulted him. 

“What happened?” Kiku asked.

“I don’t  _ know,”  _ Alfred snapped back. Still testy, then… “I just tried to make a bag of chips and--” Alfred clenched his eyes shut, “It hurts like hell.”

Kiku wasn’t sure to help or stay away when Alfred was in such a bad mood, but he eventually decided on help. Crawling closer, Kiku gingerly kneeled beside him and let his hands up to heal Alfred again, who shifted to face him.

“Hey, I’m sorry--”

“No, it’s fine.” Kiku cut over him gently, his palms glowing white again. “I am annoyed too.” He inhaled sharply when his palms suddenly got hot, and he had to stop when it made him feel weak and very dizzy. Kiku sat back, panting slightly.

“Oh--” Alfred approached him, “So it’s not just me then… but where the hell is the flower?”

Kiku pointed to the top of the pillars, where the yellow flowers lay trapped beneath the vines. Alfred huffed another annoyed sigh, glaring at the pillars like they insulted him. Then his expression suddenly stilled.

“Kiku… we… we can’t make our portal.”

Kiku tilted his head in confusion. “What? What do you--”

“I think… whatever’s doing this to us, it’s blocking  _ all  _ our powers,” Alfred began slowly. “And… that includes portals.” He bit his lip. “We’re stuck.”

“Oh.” Kiku couldn’t help but sound a little irritable at those words, “So now… we cannot even get out of here.”

Alfred flopped backward on the grass again, “Is it another flower? It’s probably another flower…”

“There are some yellow ones behind the thorns. New ones, I believe.” He pointed towards the top of the pillars. “We probably have to eliminate them first before we can move on.” Was there even any point in moving on? Progressing upwards and upwards into steadily more dangerous worlds, when they couldn’t move in real life? Was there even an end goal?

“...If we had water, getting rid of them would be easy.” Alfred grumbled as he stood up. He approached a pillar, scrutinizing it before he jumped up and made to grab at the edge of the pillar. Kiku gave a start.

“Alfred-san, don’t, I won’t be able to heal you--"   


His words fell on deaf ears as Alfred tried to pull himself up. The thorns dug into his hands, making him wince. He only stopped when a sharp coughing fit forced him to let go.

“What…” Alfred coughed, and looked up at the blue flower on top of the pillar, “There’s -- there are two flowers on the top. One of them…” He coughed again, before he straightened up, managing to get it under control, “One of them is a sleeping flower. The other one is yellow. I don’t know what it does.”

Kiku’s brows furrowed. The odds were quickly stacking up against them. But there was only  _ one  _ blue flower. Surely if they eradicated the two flowers on just one pillar, the effect would be removed from that area. Or at least give them a better chance of making another portal.

“Perhaps if we use the vine to knock it down--”

“They’re  _ thorns,  _ Keeks. If you wanna cut your hands open, be my guest!” Alfred wiped his own bloody hands on his pants, “And let’s be real; this place is  _ actively  _ trying to get us killed at this point!”

Kiku paused. He knew Alfred was growing tired of the flowers -- both of them were -- but that didn’t mean he had to snap that way, did he? “W-Well, what do you suggest we do?” Kiku asked back, his own patience whittling down. “And I’ve already told you,  _ don’t  _ call me Keeks!”

“I don’t know?! Throw each other off the island?! We haven’t tried  _ dying  _ yet, it’s worth a shot!” 

Kiku hesitated. The thought had crossed his mind before. Repeatedly, in fact. But he pushed it away. They had to go through this logically-- “It’s too risky, we can’t. We’ll just solve our way through this.”   


“And  _ how  _ do you propose we do that?!” Alfred retorted, “It’s not like they’ve just taken away the most important skill that we’ve used to get out of half the shit we encounter!”

“Oh, I don’t know!” Kiku was now on his last thread of patience, “Search your own brain, Alfred-san, that should only take a couple of seconds--” He cut himself off quickly. By the look of Alfred’s reddening face, he knew he’d landed a low blow on a sensitive subject. Kiku  _ knew  _ people often jeered him for being slow on the uptake…

“Oh, haha. Another ‘Alfred’s dumb’ joke. Real funny.” He snapped back, sarcastically, “I’m  _ so glad  _ that’s gaining more popularity nowadays! But at least  _ I’m  _ not the one who has issues with his brother!”

Kiku flushed darkly. No doubt Arthur had told him all about that since he had no recollection of telling Alfred himself. He only trusted Arthur with the information because he was at a dark place in his life, but he never imagined Arthur would share it to  _ Alfred _ of all people. …  _ Oh. _ Speaking of… “And you’re one to talk! You-- You and Arthur! It’s ridiculous, you’ve both been at each other’s throats for years! You talk about my brother? How about your  _ father? _ ”

Here’s what Kiku knew about the situation, from what he heard from both sides: Kiku knew Arthur from before he retired since he was one of the few people actually sympathetic to the new, foreign employee at the company. Only a year after he came, Alfred entered the picture. Apparently, he had run away from home, only to come back like the prodigal son after three years. The news spread like wildfire in the company, especially when Arthur convinced them to hire Alfred into the company.

Kiku never understood why Alfred was still angry at Arthur after all these years. But then again, Alfred didn’t understand Kiku’s situation. Maybe it was better they kept it that way.

“That’s--!” His hands curled into fists, and Kiku could see tears prickling at the corner of his eyes now, but his pride was in no place for him to stop, “That’s completely different! At least I did something about my situation! You just take everything in stride, can’t make any of your own ideas, can’t argue with anyone, can’t be anything other than a  _ doormat!” _

Kiku’s own fists clenched. “Take that back.”

“Take what back?! Everything? Like that’s going to solve anything!”

He forced himself to take a deep breath, though his insides felt like writhing, angry snakes. “Do not tell me you are giving up now. We’ve made it this far.”

“And just how much further is there?” Alfred yelled back, “I mean, you said it yourself: we might as well just be going through all of this without ever actually waking up!” He suddenly sucked in a breath and stared coldly back at Kiku. “You know what? I’m -- I’m done. Just  _ leave  _ me alone for a while, yeah?”

With that, Alfred pivoted on his heels and marched off around one of the pillars. After a moment of speechlessness, Kiku himself collapsed against his own pillar, blinking back tears (when did tears start forming?) and trying to repel memories of Yao and his siblings. 

The anger he felt was quickly hollowing out, leaving him numb inside. He wished he hadn’t lost his temper with Alfred… after all, Alfred had trusted that he wouldn’t make fun of how he ran away… not that it was anything very spectacular. Really just a ‘get out of the house during high school while surviving on minimum wage’, or so Alfred said... Kiku shifted uncomfortably.

Well… in all fairness, he  _ had  _ brought up Yao. How had Alfred found out? Probably from Arthur. Arthur was one of the few he told, however unwillingly and accidental it was. He bit his cheeks and forced back tears again. Not the time. Not the place. Once he got out of here, the first thing he would do was mend the relationship with his brother. That is… if he even wanted to forgive him…

Kiku shifted again, and although he could hear Alfred’s muffled sniffing subsiding, it was probably much too early still to go and apologize. He regretted snapping… especially after he promised himself he never would again. Both of them were frustrated with their situation. Though in a sense, the dream world was being gracious by only limiting their creating abilities. At least nothing was actively trying to kill them…

Kiku hugged his legs. For the first time in possibly years, he wanted to go home. 

* * *

“I’m… sorry.”

Kiku jumped. He hadn’t expected Alfred to come around. Or at least, not like this. His eyes were still slightly watery and his face still ruddy, but Alfred still had that bright, cheery smile.  It was an odd look for Alfred, but Kiku had to admit that it was better than fighting. 

Kiku looked away guiltily. “I… I am sorry too…”

Alfred shook his head. “No, it’s -- it’s my fault. I really shouldn’t have been petty when you were just trying to get us out of here. It’s been hard for both of us.” He paused. “And… I shouldn’t have brought up Yao… you’re already dealing with a lot.”

“And I shouldn’t have brought up Arthur…” Kiku mumbled back, forcing himself to look at Alfred, “It’s my fault just as much as yours.” What else…? “I don’t think you are stupid either.”

At that, Alfred’s face broke into a smile, laughing embarrassedly. “Pfft, let’s be real, I’m stupid for thinking we’re not gonna get out of here.” Alfred looked away, as if deciding something, then stuck out his hand, “But uh, let’s make a deal. No matter what happens, we’re in this together. We’ve both got stuff waiting for us when we wake up, and we wanna get to it.” He weakly smiled, “We got this.”

Kiku nodded, shaking his hand, “Deal.” 

Their hands stayed like that for a moment longer, longer than a normal handshake. Kiku brought his hand back first, flush spreading over his cheeks. What was  _ that _ about?

He shook his head. Not now.  _ Focus _ . “So what are we going to do about the flowers?” Kiku asked, standing up to get a better look at the pillar above them. He didn’t even realize he was under the flowers. Alfred followed his gaze, pondering.

“Well, I’d say we just summon some rain… but that would probably hurt. A lot.” He said, rubbing his hands together. Kiku scrutinized the pillar.   
  
“Maybe… maybe it’s a test of endurance, see how high our pain levels-- Alfred-kun,  _ don’t!” _

Alfred had his hands out in front of him now, his eyes squeezed shut and his face contorted. His face was also pale, beads of sweat dripping down him. He looked, quite simply, like he was about to faint. Alfred dropped his hands to his sides, blowing out a breath.

“R-Right. Our dream powers definitely don’t work.” He panted, falling against one of the pillars, “Time for plan B.”   


“I will do plan B,” Kiku said hurriedly. Alfred paused.

“... I don’t really have a plan B planned.” He admitted, wiping his brow, “Do you have any ideas?”

“Well…” Unless simply scaling the pillars counted, which would be painful, Kiku was actually stumped. He prowled around the back of the pillar, mulling it over, when he saw it: a foothold. Was this really the only way…? Kiku glanced back at Alfred.

It was the only thing they had so far. Gritting his teeth and pulling his sleeves over his hands in a weak attempt to protect them, Kiku put his foot in to began climbing the pillar from the back. It was a hard task, though the pillar wasn’t all that tall to begin with. Once he was up a couple of meters, the thorny vines could serve as things to hold onto, as they were tightly wrapped against the pillar itself.

The thorns dug into his hands, scraped against his ankles and ripped his clothes, not to mention the pollen wafted around him (though one sleeping flower compared to the hoard in the house world was much less overwhelming), but Kiku kept going. He refused to stop until he could just reach a hand over the top, plucking the flowers where they sat. They tore off with a satisfying ripping sound. Then he threw them over his shoulder and began his descent down. Some of the thorns snapped under his weight and fell to the floor.

“Hey Keeks--  _ Kiku?! _ The  _ thorns-- _ ” Alfred spotted Kiku as he was making his way down, and raced around to the edge, “Kiku!”

Kiku jumped the rest of the way down, falling backward on the grass panting. “I -- I don’t think there  _ was  _ an alternative.”

Alfred was looking very surprised at him, though he quickly put on a smile, “Well, at least we’re able to make that portal now!” He said, brightly. Stooping low, Alfred picked up the flowers on the floor, and threw them over the edge of the island, “You, uh, you need any healing?”

Kiku shook his head, stifling his coughs. His palms glowed hot again, though it wasn’t a searing heat, and soon they were both back to normal. His shirt, unfortunately, was still ripped. 

“Hey, um, also, Kiku?” Alfred asked, unusually nervous. Kiku looked up from his palms as they went back to normal.

“...Yes?”

“Just…. Just know that, erm… I’m here. For you.” He said, hurriedly, “If you ever, y’know, wanted to talk or anything. I’m here.”

That was… surprisingly considerate. “Thank you Alfred-kun,” Kiku replied back if a little stiffly. But he meant the words; the argument was in the past now. “And… and I am here for you too.”

“Yeah! Yeah, sure, yeah.” Alfred adjusted his glasses, looking slightly flustered. He waved a dismissive hand as if he had never said anything. “An-Anyway, let’s get to our next world!”

The portal took a little longer to make than usual. Whether it was because of the emotion in the air or the flowers were somehow still in effect, Kiku had no clue. However, it was made, and that was that. The portal shone like a miniature sun.

“Ooh~” Alfred laughed, “It’s pretty. You ready?”

Kiku nodded, and together, they put their hands on the portal. 

 


	7. Lively Labyrinth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they meet the most dangerous world yet.

Upon touching the portal, Alfred stumbled back into something, and for a moment he was afraid that the portal hadn’t worked at all. But one looked around affirmed that he did land somewhere else. A somewhere else filled with tall hedges boxing him in three sides, with thick vines akin to the ones on the pillars crawling up them. Alfred allowed himself to relax a little, even laughing a little in relief. “Phew! We made it! Hey Kiku-- Kiku?”

...Oh, no. No, no, no. Where was Kiku? Alfred pivoted on his feet, turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Tall hedges with copious amounts of vines surrounded him on all sides but one, but his companion was nowhere to be found. Did… did he not come with him through the portal? “Kiku!”

“Alfred-kun?”

He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Kiku’s voice. So he was here. But where?-- “Kiku, where are you?”

A pause. Then… “I’m right here,” Kiku said quietly, as if he was also realizing their situation. “Where are you?” 

Damn it. They had been separated, by plants no less. Typical, just when they were a team too. 

“I’m… I’m on the other side of the hedge to you!” Alfred shouted back to him. He glanced up at the hedge itself. Could he climb it…? No, it was much too thick, and the vines too high up. And -- upon even closer inspection -- blue sleeping flowers were hidden inside. Since noting Alfred, they’d started to lean closer to him. He quickly backed away to the centre.

There was a quiet yelp from the other side of the hedge. “We can’t use our powers to get through the hedge.” Kiku told him. Alfred had suspected something like it, “There are yellow flowers on top of it.”

“So then what?” Alfred replied, still scanning the walls around them. “We just have to try and meet up somewhere where our paths join?”

“I… I think. Try and get to the middle.” He called back. “And if we meet before then, we can leave sooner.”

Alfred nodded, before realising Kiku couldn’t see him. “Right! Okay, see you there!”

He heard footsteps on the other side of the hedge, and after a moment of hesitation, he too started walking the opposite way. Right… okay… he was horrible at mazes. Alfred kept as close to his right side -- Kiku’s side -- as possible, hoping to meet up soon. Even if he was risking being closer to the flowers. And speaking of flowers, he didn’t even want to think about the new flower residing in this world.

It didn’t take long for Kiku’s footsteps to fade out completely. A constricting silence replaced it, only broken by his own muffled steps on fresh grass. Alfred wished there was a way to communicate to Kiku. The sleeping flowers pollen was beginning to get up his nose too, and he sneezed on more than one occasion. The yellow flowers he could deal with, as long as he didn’t do any magic. Blue flowers, well… Alfred couldn’t really do anything about them. But at least they were the only flowers here-- 

… Wait. Alfred looked around, then up at the hedge. Small orange flowers were dotted about on small vines, hanging loosely over the leaves. When had they appeared? Alfred reached up and plucked one of these flowers, twirling it his hand. It didn’t have any kind of pollen pouring from it, and there wasn’t even a smell from it. But then again, the sleeping flowers did tend to overpower everything else. 

Alfred tossed the cut flower away. They seemed harmless enough. At least they weren’t actively hostile, like how the blue flowers leaned down to reach him. Eugh. He wanted to get out of here as fast as he could. 

Alfred sped up his pace a little. He still couldn’t hear Kiku, but he was sure he was making progress. There was something orange and bulbous in the distance, which was getting steadily larger as he walked. Could Kiku see that too? At the very least, he could probably climb on it to find Kiku. That idea gave him a little hope, and he hurried his pace. 

He didn’t really notice when the amount of orange flowers started to thicken on the walls. However, he did notice when something tapped him on the shoulder. 

Alfred whirled around with a gasp, but there wasn’t anything behind him. … What? He could’ve sworn something touched his shoulder. He wasn’t that close to the hedge walls, so he couldn’t have brushed up against it… Brushing his shoulder self-consciously (even though there was nothing on it), Alfred broke into a brisk walk. 

This was definitely getting weird. Something kept on touching him at various places; his shoulders, his arm, his back, even his hand. Yet every time he whipped around to catch the culprit, there was nothing to be seen. The orange flowers were now blanketing the hedges, showing barely a hint of green. For one insane second, Alfred thought he saw the flowers moving along the ground. But that was impossible, right? Flowers couldn’t move! Flowers had roots, roots were planted in the ground, plants can’t move-- 

He jumped when something trailed across the back of his neck. 

But once again, when he turned around, there was nothing behind him. 

“Alright,” Alfred muttered, taking one more look around him. “This is getting really old. Whoever does that next I’m gonna--”

Something curled into the palm of his hand, and Alfred immediately seized it and gave a sharp tug. Aha! “Gotcha!” He yelled, opening up his fist, to reveal… a flower. Or rather, two or three flowers, all connected on a vine. But flowers couldn’t move, right? … Right?

The orange flowers didn’t seem to like him ripping out one of their friends -- twice. And he could tell, because ever so slightly they were untangling from the walls, slithering out onto the floor and moving towards him. 

“Okaaaaay, nice flowers… I’m a good person…” Alfred slowly backed away from the walls. He could almost sense the flowers bristling with aggression at him. His back hit a dead end behind him -- and that was when the flowers struck.

With lightning fast speeds, the flowers moved akin to a snake, leaping up into the air and slithering down the wall behind him to loop around him. By luck and instinct alone, Alfred ducked, and the vines tangled themselves together behind him. That bought him just enough time to make a run for it, the ripped flower still in his hand. 

Trying to figure out where he was going was now the last thing on his mind. Alfred dashed blindly through the maze, not caring that he didn’t know where the heck he was going. He only knew he had to avoid the flowers. Which was proving to be difficult, since they were everywhere. Entwined along the walls, sneaking up behind him... Alfred even had to jump over a few creepers waiting to trip him up on the ground. Even the sleeping flowers seemed to be contributing, pumping a ton of pollen into the air just to slow him down. And it was working. His mind was becoming numb, his legs were beginning to get tired, and Alfred became so distracted he didn’t see the thick creeper on the ground.

He tried to jump, but it was too late. The vine wrapped around his foot and locked into place. For a moment the world seemed to run in slow motion as he hit the ground, ripping his trousers and grazing his palms. Alfred barely had time to looked back over his shoulder before the rest of the flowers were upon him. 

Vines upon vines wrapped around his arms, effectively making them useless. No matter how much he struggled, the orange flowers kept him pinned. The sleeping flowers didn’t help either, as his mind went foggy and his reactions became weak. He kicked and flailed and let out a shout for help, but nobody came. 

Then, much to his surprise, something was shoved into his mouth. Something bitter. It made him choke and splutter, and he eventually spat it out. Eugh. He glanced down in surprise: A ripped off flower? Was this revenge for his pulling one out earlier?

More vines wrapped around his throat, and with his hands being forced away there wasn’t much he could do to stop it. They tightened around his throat, making his choke out a breath, yet he couldn’t do a thing. A new vine snaked its way into his mouth -- he was able to see it this time, as if the flowers were taunting him -- to drop a new flower in. The creeper around his neck loosened just enough for him to accidentally swallow the dead flower.

… And then the vines loosened up. They let go of his arms, his legs, his torso. Even so, Alfred ripped them away from him quickly and staggered to his feet. Jesus. He tried to gag the flower out, but it was too late. Huh. Sure, it was bitter, but what was it even supposed to do?--

His feet suddenly went numb. 

He stumbled backward in surprise, struggling to keep upright. Were his feet supposed to feel this numb? He took a wobbly step forwards, but it was all he could do just to walk a few paces before the numbness reached his knees. Legs wobbling, they finally gave out and Alfred crashed to the floor in an unceremonious heap.

He tried to scrabble back to his feet again, but his legs felt like dead weights. His hands were starting to lose feeling as well, all the way to his elbows. For a frenzied second, Alfred looked behind him to see the vines finally mobilizing. No, no, no--! Alfred tried crawling away from the vines on his elbows and knees, panic rising up in him. The vines crept leisurely forwards, almost lazily. They knew he couldn’t do anything now; he was virtually helpless to them. They snuck around his shoulders and gently pulled him along the path. Alfred tried to grab for a hedge, but his arm swung uselessly against it. The numbness was travelling everywhere, up his body, up his neck--

_________________________________________________________

Alfred hadn’t realised he had passed out until he woke up, mildly confused and dizzy. His whole body was racked with a terrible ache, so great he could barely move a finger. And something was curling along his cheek, pressing at his mouth…

His eyes snapped open (or did they? It was so dark in here…), and Alfred bit down hard on the flower forcing its way into his mouth. Aha! Caught it! He spat it out again, where he heard it give a quiet thump onto the floor. The vine tendril retreated off his face. 

… Wait a moment. Was he hanging upside down?

It had taken awhile for his senses to re-awaken again, but he was definitely upside down. His ankles burned from some kind of rope holding him up for so long, and he could practically feel the blood welling in his hands and head. At least he wasn’t turning around listlessly in the air. Alfred tried to swing up and remove the vines holding his ankles, but the terrible ache was paralysing him. Worse still, all the blood that was rushing to his head was giving him an intense headache. Or maybe that was just the after-effect of the flowers. 

Suddenly, right next to him mumbled something gibberish. No, wait, that sounded like Japanese.

“Kiku?” Alfred whispered, hopefully. There was a muffled grunt in reply. Wait! The flower! “Kiku don’t eat the flower!”

He guessed that Kiku must have severed it off too, because something hit the floor beneath them, and a slight rustling sound indicated that a vine was retreating. Alfred gave a sigh of relief. 

“Where…” Alfred glanced up towards Kiku’s voice. He sounded as tired and confused as he did. “What’s going on…?”

“I don’t know…” He tried to look around, but there was just more darkness. No light was seeping in from any direction. “It’s too d-- ARGH!”

The vines coiled around his ankles had loosened, and Alfred fell to the floor in an ungraceful heap. Luckily, the floor was powdery and oddly springy, so despite the fact he fell on his front, it wasn’t too painful. But the power was very bitter, as he discovered when he got a mouthful of it. Alfred spat it out, struggling to sit up and fix his glasses. This pollen definitely wasn’t as bad as the sleeping flowers, but it still wasn’t pleasant. Kiku seemed to be having the same problems to his right, and for a moment the both of them just lay there, coughing the pollen up.

Eventually, the effects subsided. Alfred wiped his mouth, flicking away more pollen from his face. Alright. At least they weren’t dead. “We need light,” he said, hopefully facing towards Kiku. “Do you think you could…?” 

He saw sparks, then a meek, dim light orb hovered over Kiku’s hands. Even if it was a small source of light, it still made Alfred feel relieved. Finally, something was going right. He took the chance to look around; orange sloping walls towered over them, the same orange as the flowers that captured them. When Alfred put a hand on the walls, they felt soft and delicate, but firm as steel at the same time. The yellow, foamy floor had a bouncy quality to it, too. Alfred couldn’t help bouncing a little, earning an amused sigh from Kiku. 

“What?” Alfred said innocently. He continued bouncing, feet practically lifting in the air. “It’s fun!--” 

They both froze when they heard a sharp crunching sound. 

Alfred, breath held, glanced down. He then scrambled away when he saw a broken rib cage under his foot. They weren’t able to see them in the dark, but two withered skeletons sat in the corner of the floor and the wall. 

“There were other people here,” Kiku whispered in shock. He then shook his head, as if clearing his thoughts. “It’s part of the dream. They’re here just to scare us.” 

But Alfred couldn’t help but stare at the dust-covered skeletons. They’d never seen skeletons before. That had to mean something! “But what if they are real?” 

“There was no one with us when we found the flowers. Even if someone was… buried here, they would have to be there for centuries,” Kiku reasoned, but he still glanced worriedly up at the top of the room. 

“Yeah, but--” He had to calm down. He had to calm down. This time, Alfred tried to fight the bubbling panic in his chest, but it was getting increasingly difficult, and there was no way--

“Alfred,” Kiku said firmly, and when Alfred turned to look behind him, their eyes locked. There was a hand on his arm, he realized. Kiku’s hand. A tense silence seemed to stretch between them. 

The panicked feeling in his chest seemed to calm slightly. Alfred nodded, “Yeah.. okay…” He felt a little bashful under Kiku’s concern, but he quickly shrugged it off. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not freaking out--”

Light suddenly streamed into the not-room from above. Instinctually, Alfred and Kiku both craned their necks upwards to look (Kiku’s hand retreated off his shoulder then), but almost immediately Alfred brought his hands up to block the bright light. It looked like the ceiling was splitting open -- just like a bud opening its petals. He didn’t see what happened, but he felt something thump onto the squishy floor. and then the light was gone. 

Alfred blinked the dark spots from his vision. What was that all about? When his vision cleared somewhat, he approached the foreign object. It lay in the very centre of the not-room and didn’t appear to be doing very much. The object looked remarkably like a tulip bulb, except covered in vines with a single orange bud resting on its top. Alfred knew better than to poke it, but he still knelt down and studied it closely.

“... It’s doing nothing,” he reported. 

“Why was it dropped in here, then?” Kiku asked, looking up at the ceiling. He had backed away from the object altogether, pressing against the velvety wall. Alfred just shrugged.

“I dunno, but something tells me it’s gonna be for a bad reason.” He stepped back a few paces away from the object. The sproingy ground made it tilt, but still it did nothing. “Do you think it’s a bomb?”

“I don’t know,” Kiku answered truthfully. His eyes followed the movement of the tulip-bulb-bomb, then up at the ceiling, and then to the ground. Almost as if piecing things together. Alfred was about to ask what Kiku was thinking about when he smelled something absolutely disgusting. 

He recoiled back, plugging his nose. It seemed to be coming from the tulip bulb itself, and that wasn’t all; as it tilted and shifted from Alfred’s hasty steps, liquid splashed from the top of the bulb. His movements caused it to roll, all the way to Kiku. “Keeks, get away from it--!”

 

Kiku jumped to the side, and it fell against the wall. The liquid seeped from the tulip-bulb in an ooze, gathering along the wall. The more pollen there was, the faster the liquid came. No, wait… it was reacting to the pollen on the ground. Alfred scrambled back from the slowly advancing liquid, but a careless movement made some of it splash up onto his leg. Alfred hissed in pain. The liquid had actually burnt through his trousers.

“Don’t touch it! It’s acid!” Alfred called. Then it hit him. His heart jumped into his mouth. “... We’re going to be dissolved alive.”

“... What do you mean?” Kiku asked, worriedly. 

“I mean, the room is gonna fill up with this stuff and we’re gonna be stuck in it!” His gaze fell upon the pile of bones in the corner, completely unaffected by the acid. His stomach dropped, “Oh my God -- Keeks -- the skeletons--”

“Alfred-kun--”

“The flowers, the ones they tried to give us before, they were probably to numb the pain of dying!” The amount of space they could step on was slowly diminishing. It wouldn’t take long for the acid to fill this room at the rate it was going. “Kiku, we’re gonna--!”

“Alfred, please listen to me.”

They were practically back-to-back now, trying to take up as little space as they could. Alfred twisted around slightly to look at Kiku. There was a knowing light in his eye. 

“We’re not going to die. We’re going to be fine. Don’t you remember…?” Kiku reached his hands in front of him. Alfred wondered what he was doing -- until he saw the tulip-bulb being lifted off the ground by levitation. “... We can use our powers.”

… Oh, right. The moment the bulb was lifted off the ground, acid stopped being produced from the ground. That could buy them some time to work out how to get out of here! Alfred grinned in relief. But the grin turned into a frown when he saw how shaky Kiku’s hands were. They probably didn’t have a lot of time.

“Okay… okay…” He took a deep breath to steel himself. “We’ve probably gotta get out through the roof, right, because that’s where the opening was…” But how would they get up there? Alfred knew he couldn’t levitate himself or Kiku -- they were too heavy and their powers were too underdeveloped. So then what…?

“Kiku, drop the flower,” Alfred suddenly instructed, and rubbed his hands together. He had a plan. A crazy plan, but a plan nonetheless.

“N-- What? If I do that, the room will fill with acid!” Kiku argued.

“Just trust me!” Right… he needed to make a raft now. While Kiku dropped the bulb back on the floor (it started fizzing and producing the acid again immediately), Alfred got to work on making the raft. Eventually he felt something pop into existence.

.... Well. It was a kind of raft. Not what he had in mind but it would do.

“Get on!” He yelled, clambering onto the surfboard. Kiku hesitated a moment before he too scrambled on. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of room; they had to squish together tightly just to keep their feet on board as it was. Adding to that, the acid bubbled and sprayed up frequently, burning the both of them. Soon, Alfred could feel the acid take the board’s weight, as they floated up. 

“Ohhhh, thank God.” He let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding. It made the board teeter a bit, but for the most part it held. “It’s not dissolving. How long do you reckon it’ll take to get to the top?”

“Um…” Kiku shrugged in return, fidgeting awkwardly to avoid getting sprayed, “... five minutes?”

“Five minutes is too long,” Alfred groaned. He looked up at the slowly-nearing small hole in the top of the cavern. “... It’s a bit of a weird place for the flowers to put us in, don’t you think?”

“It’s a bud… isn’t it?” Kiku asked, “I thought we were inside an enormous flower…”

Alfred took a look around. Sure enough, Kiku was right: the walls had been velvety and smooth, the texture of a petal, and the floor had been strangely spongy and powdery. Powder… or pollen? That must be what the bulb was reacting to. 

“You’re right! So… do you think we’ll just be able to slide out? Like, this huge flower in the middle of the maze?” Alfred asked. “... Do you think this flower is the ’queen flower’ or whatever and the little ones were the underlings? That’d be terrifying.” 

“… Erm… one problem at a time.” Kiku looked up curiously. “... Could we even just make the portal here and escape?”

Alfred grimaced. “From what I noticed, Keeks, when we make a portal things tend to get blasted back. And…” Alfred gestured at the acid around them and the unsteady raft. “Yeah.”

Kiku grimaced in return. “Good point.”

The acid floated them steadily closer towards the exit. Alfred grew more and more restless, fidgeting on the board impatiently. It was when they started getting to the top that he also realised; they were slowing down. When they were still quite a bit underneath it, the liquid suddenly stopped rising with a small jolt. 

“Why did we stop…?” Kiku asked, as he steadied himself on the board. 

Alfred glanced around, then up. They were still a ways away from the top. “... Dunno. Think the thing ran out of powder to make the acid?”

“Maybe…”

“Which means,” he groaned, “we’re gonna have to make another thing to get out of here.”

Kiku stared at him. “... What could balance on a surfboard?”

Alfred shrugged. Okay, so, a surfboard definitely wasn’t the most stable thing to stand on to get out of here. He looked at the acid around them curiously, an idea slowly forming in his head. A stupid idea, but at least it was something… “You think it’d be a good idea to maybe, just maybe, create more of that orange dust? So then we could make more acid?” 

Kiku seemed surprised at the idea, but he also looked at the acid in wary contemplation. “... It is our only option so far,” he ventured, although he looked doubtful. “If you can do it, I suppose it can’t hurt to try.” He paused, then added, “Be careful not to make waves.”

“Of course!” Alfred shifted his position so that he was squatting over the edge of the surfboard, putting his hands out. Ironic that he had to make the very thing that brought them here to save them. Strangely, though, no pain came to him as soft dust tickled his hands and fell lightly on the acid. With a stuttering jolt, the acid started to rise again. 

After a few moments, Alfred let himself relax. They were going upward at a steady pace, at least. Some of the dust clung to his hands, but most of it fell where it was supposed to. He sighed in relief -- and immediately sneezed. 

“Alfred!” Kiku grabbed onto Alfred’s jacket to steady him as the board tipped and swayed. The acid lapped on the board, and Kiku’s grip on Alfred’s jacket tightened as some burned his shoes. Alfred stopped long enough to balance on the board, trying his best not to put his hands down to steady himself. Fortunately, Kiku’s grip was more than enough. 

Alfred made enough pollen to last them a long time. There were even still stray clumps floating on the rising surface. He looked up, hands raised up. “Now all we need to do is stand up,” he murmured, looking to Kiku with a smile. They were almost out! 

Kiku stared back for a moment, a hint of a smile peeking through as well, before he suddenly flushed red and let go of Alfred’s jacket. “R-Right. You go first, you’re the taller one.” 

With a nod, Alfred unsteadily stood up. He used the plush ceiling as a support, and slowly, he pushed the bud’s opening wider. Light poured into the room, and Alfred had to block out the light with his arm. When the acid was high enough, he climbed out on his stomach and swung his legs out. 

They really were in a huge orange flower bulb, smack dab in the middle of the maze. The maze went out as far as the eye could see, and Alfred even had some difficulty distinguishing the horizon from the sky. He couldn’t see what was below the flower, but he could see hedges and thick vines boxing the flower in. 

With a grunt, Alfred turned back around and reached his arm out into the hole for Kiku. “Grab on!” 

Kiku grabbed Alfred’s hand, but before he could be pulled up, Kiku suddenly looked down in alarm. Alfred leaned forward to get a better look: an especially thick tendril had wrapped itself around Kiku’s ankle and refused to budge even when Kiku tried to pull away. Kiku crouched down to tug the tendril off but almost unbalanced himself in the process, surfboard wobbling. 

“Come on!” Alfred’s leapt to his throat every time Kiku struggled to stay on the board. He held onto Kiku’s hand tighter and leaned forward more. “I can pull if off!--” 

“No! Don’t come down!” He hissed when more acid splashed on his shoes. Gritting his teeth, Kiku made a slashing motion at the direction of the vine. The vine severed into two pieces, freeing him. It also slashed the board partway through, and Kiku’s feet stumbled back in surprise. 

Alfred gasped, almost letting go of Kiku accidentally. “Stay on the board! I got you!” He yelled as the board floated unsteadily under Kiku’s feet. “I’m pulling you out!” 

Kiku’s other hand scrambled to hold onto Alfred’s, and Alfred latched on quickly. On a silent count, Kiku jumped off the board -- it floated away into a dark corner -- and Alfred hoisted him out of the flower. Kiku was not the lightweight Alfred imagined him to be, but he was in no position to complain. He helped Kiku crawl out, heaving him out of the bud, and then they both fell against the side of the flower, breathing heavily. 

“... Oh my God,” Alfred breathed, laying a hand on his forehead. 

He could feel rumbling, vibrating sounds from underneath him, and guessed that the acid was still rising. The bulb was probably gonna overflow soon. And as much as Alfred wanted to rest, he also didn’t particularly want to get burned alive now that the hard part was over and done with. He reached over and nudged Kiku next to him.

“We should, uh… probably move on,” he said, looking down over the edge of the bulb. Kiku nodded, and together, they slid down over the edge. It wasn’t too far a fall, but it did make Alfred stumble. He straightened up again, and looked down.

… Oh. That was… creepy. Beneath his feet, were hundreds and hundreds of dead flowers. Grey, they crumbled beneath his feet as he rotated, and stretched in all directions around the bulb. Alfred shivered.

“Are these… dead flowers…?” Kiku mumbled, nervously. 

“... I think so. Let’s -- let’s move on!” He replied, hastily, and moved over to Kiku just as the acid started seeping out, over the lip of the bulb. Some of the dead flowers began to regain their orange colour. “And quickly!”

Pain flared up his back when he tried making the portal again, but sparks began to fly from his fingertips again. This portal took a little longer to make compared to the others -- and it was also jet black in colour. Alfred glanced at Kiku uncertainty.

“It’s…. different…” He muttered, hovering his hand over it. “You think it’s our way out?”

Kiku nodded back mutely, and, at the same time, they both put their hands on the portal.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, and welcome to Sleeping Blue!
> 
> This story is based on an RP that a friend (RedPen77) and I have worked on for a long time! In fact, we're actually co-writing this story together! We basically have all the plot written down, so now all we have to do is transfer it to an actual, legitimate book!
> 
> We don't really have a set publishing schedule, but we will try to publish chapters as soon as they are ready! We'd love any criticism you have for this story, and we thank you for reading this story!


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